Parents' Guide to

The Book of Henry

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Muddled dramedy deals with dark, disturbing topics.

Movie PG-13 2017 105 minutes
The Book of Henry Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 11 parent reviews

Srotary
Srotary Adult
November 19, 2019
age 13+

The Book of Henry

Stevenmhyde
Stevenmhyde Parent
April 16, 2019
age 8+

Heart touching

This movie is great and more children need to understand child abuse. It made me cry

This title has:

Great messages
See all 11 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In the dark dramedy THE BOOK OF HENRY, Henry Carpenter (Jaeden Lieberher) is a precocious sixth-grade genius who lives with his single mom, Susan (Naomi Watts), and younger brother, Peter (Jacob Tremblay). The kids at school don't like Henry much, but he's happy enough giving presentations on existential crises, rigging up elaborate contraptions in his forest playhouse with Peter, and pumping up his family's income by day trading. Then Henry notices that something terrible is happening between his wordless next-door neighbor, Christina (Maddie Ziegler), and her menacing stepdad, Glenn (Dean Norris) -- and he makes a plan to stop it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (11):
Kids say (37):

This genuinely odd movie is a mix of many tones and styles, shifting wildly from offbeat family comedy to dying-kid weepie to dark thriller within the space of its 100-minute running time. When viewers meet young Henry, a movie whiz-kid in the Little Man Tate mold, he's putting in a few stock trades before his mom picks him and his brother up from school in the family's blue Volvo. OK, you think, this is going to be a quirky-sweet family-against-the-odds comedy, the sort that Wes Anderson might make. But no. After doing several whimsical and (intended to be) enchanting things like cheering up a just-bullied Peter by staging an indoor snowstorm with styrofoam and a fan, Peter suddenly falls ill -- and Susan discovers that he's formulated a plan to murder their next door neighbor, Glenn ... a plan she ultimately decides to carry out for him.

If that sounds darned odd, it is. There's a world in which this plot could work, but this isn't it. Everything about this movie rings false, from Henry's outrageously elaborate steampunk playhouse (he built it when he was what? 10, 9, 8?) to his (supposed to be) picturesque creations. A young boy blows styrofoam all over the top floor of his house, and everyone thinks that's just great? Who's going to clean that up? Did the person who wrote this script never sweep? Also, distressingly, Christina is given no identity or role other than that of being a lovely, distressed damsel, waiting passively for rescue. Portraying this young girl as a symbol and a quest rather than a person is an iffy, regressive choice that may well make parents uncomfortable -- but it's just one of the many things they'll be uncomfortable with if they choose to watch Book of Henry with their kids.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about The Book of Henry's violence. How does the lack of gore affect how you feel about what you see on scree? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

  • Henry and Susan make dangerous, even illegal choices, but their goals are ultimately well-intentioned. Does that excuse what they do?

  • What kind of movie is this? Is it a drama? A comedy? A thriller? How can you tell? How does a movie communicate what emotions it hopes to inspire in viewers? Consider setting, music, characterization.

Movie Details

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