Parents' Guide to

The Rocket

By Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Faith-based true-life teen sports story has some cursing.

Movie NR 2018 86 minutes
The Rocket Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 10+

Based on 1 parent review

age 10+

An amateur movie with a bad message.

I have never been moved to write a review before, but this movie inspired me. The Rocket begins with a father dumping his high school athletic dreams on his pre-schooler and goes downhill from there. The young man is bullied by his father until the child suffers an off-field injury and is then ignored by his father. The young man tries a new sport. This causes his father to make fun of him and ignore him in equal measure. Did I mention that his mother does nothing to intervene? Only when the young man is successful in his new sport does his father even bother to show up. The moral of this story seems to be: Your dad will love you only you are a champion at your father’s chosen sport. Anything less than that, and you are on your own. This is a devastating examination of toxic masculinity in parenting being passed off as inspiration.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (1):

The heartfelt performances of Brady Tutton and Richard Blake, along with enough suspense to elicit strong interest despite a foreseeable outcome, make this low-budget film worth watching. It's a traditional sports story -- a likable character on his way to glory is faced with an insurmountable obstacle in his path and must find the heart to exceed expectations. And it works. The only unfortunate element is what feels like a forced, made-up conflict between father and son. A dad like Robert Davis, cold and petulant, self-righteous and self-involved, isn't easily redeemable. Certainly not in the by-the-numbers way the movie portrays that redemption. It's a wrinkle in an otherwise smooth effort. The combined talents of filmmakers and the people of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where The Rocket is set and filmed, give the movie a homemade quality, in the nicest sense of the word. Kids will enjoy this story and hopefully gain some insights into the concept of "putting in the time."

Movie Details

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