Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Awful adventure has intense peril and potty humor.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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The Incredible Adventure of Jojo (and His Annoying Little Sister Avila)
What's the Story?
In THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE OF JOJO (AND HIS ANNOYING LITTLE SISTER AVILA) JoJo goes to visit his grandmother out in the country with his mother and baby sister. His grandmother gives him a pocketknife as a gift. On the drive home, the mother loses control of the vehicle and crashes in a ditch. The mother is unconscious and presumed dead. With his pocketknife, JoJo cuts his seatbelt and gets out of the car with Avila. Carrying Avila and taking what he believes to be the necessary supplies for survival, young JoJo tries to go back to his grandmother's house to alert her of the accident. This adventure leads JoJo and Avila into near-deaths involving sitting on wolf traps, pursuit by an irate "hobo" who JoJo urinated on, pursuit by wolves, and near-drowning. As the grandmother begins to worry, a search party forms, but it's up to JoJo to survive the forest's many dangers and return himself and his infant sister to safety.
Is It Any Good?
This movie may have had good intentions but it fails on every level. It's easy to understand why someone might want to make a movie like this. The Adventure of Jojo (And His Little Sister Avila) seems to be pining for the carefree childhoods of the '70s and '80s, of helmet-less BMX and skateboard rides, road trips without seatbelts in the proverbial "way, way back" of smoke-filled station wagons, and going through life without a (gasp) smartphone or even a cell phone to check in every two hours. It's easy to see how some might think the parents of today are "overprotective" and that the problem, like everything in society, is a product of that old chestnut, "political correctness."
The movie feels like it's trying to "troll" so-called "overprotective parents," and that if you dislike this movie, well, you must be some kind of hyper-sensitive "snowflake" who doesn't want anything in the world to ever be offensive to anyone ever. However, it's possible not to enjoy scenes of little kids urinating on "hobos" and "bugs and critters," scenes of little kids and adults tasting or getting hit by baby feces, of an infant girl and little boy somehow ending up seated on opened wolf traps on the verge of springing and killing them, of a little boy holding his infant sister upside down by the ankles in order to retrieve a pocketknife that fell out of reach, without being "too uptight" to see the clear and obvious entertainment value. No, it's not the fault of "overprotective parents" that this movie is so awful. Incredibly bad acting, lousy production values, and a storyline more interested in shock value than a coherent storyline are the reasons.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about The Adventure of Jojo (And His Little Sister Avila)'s intention. What is its purpose? Is it successful?
How does this movie use "shock value" to attempt to entertain? How might these scenes be viewed as reactions to the "overprotective parents" the film's opening disclaimer says is not for them?
How does the movie attempt to satirize or perhaps even mock contemporary family realities of car seats, bike helmets, and safety? Is it effective?
How does the movie present the homeless? Is it a fair portrayal? Why or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : November 19, 2014
- Cast : Joseph Ogando , Avila Schmidt , Gina Plastino
- Director : Brian Schmidt
- Studio : Tree House Mafia Productions
- Genre : Family and Kids
- Topics : Adventures
- Run time : 86 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : peril, action, scary moments, reckless behavior, crude humor, language and thematic elements - all involving children
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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