Parents' Guide to The Great Alaskan Race

Presley's filmmaking debut lacks the sophistication to appeal to many adults, but the serum run of 1925 is a fantastic true story, and the movie has enough elements to keep kids captivated. One small but telling example: The actress who plays Seppala's daughter, Sigrid (Presley's own daughter, Emma), sports a front tooth that's half-grown back in. That's a small part of a kid's real life that has perhaps never made it the screen. And, of course, kids always connect to stories about amazing dogs, and movie canines don't get more heroic than Togo and his sled team. Plus, the relationship between "Sepp" and Sigrid is the driving force behind the mission's success, which might help kids feel a connection to a historical miracle. Other positive aspects of the story include the example of how leaders weighed the pros and cons of how to try to get the serum to the village.

That said, knowing that the film appears to be targeted at a family audience makes some of Presley's choices all the more confusing. It's unclear why it was so important for Sepp to kill a bear and drench himself in its blood (it doesn't match the description of the spirit animal believed to bring death). And it's a mystery why a musher would explain in gruesome detail the horrible death a husky will endure if run at certain temperatures ... just before choosing to run them in those same conditions. Puzzlingly, the identity of the narrator who speaks in first person is never explained, nor why he speaks only at the beginning of the film, never to be heard from or acknowledged again. Tweens likely won't notice those pesky details, although they'll definitely recognize that they watched a sad movie, even if the outcome is victorious.