Parents' Guide to To All the Boys: Always and Forever

This latest entry in the teen romance franchise is likely to please fans. To All the Boys: Always and Forever continues with the same light tone, charming characters, and pleasant settings. The film takes on some worthy and timely topics for teens on the precipice of adulthood, and there are positive lessons about family, relationships, and individual growth. A couple of cutesy techniques are fun, like a video imagining of Lara Jean's dreams for the future getting rewound when things don't work out as planned, or the film's hand-drawn transitions. Same for certain lines and scenes, like lessons Peter says he's learned from watching romcoms, his reenactment of the classic Say Anything scene with a mini Bluetooth speaker replacing John Cusack's '80s boom box, or the little sister rolling her eyes at people actually still leaving messages.

As the teens grapple with grown-up issues like applying to college, having sex, and losing or gaining parental figures, they exhibit an emotional fortitude that's enviable even for those well over 17. When they're being a little naughty, like evading chaperones on a senior trip or sneaking into a childhood bedroom to make out, they still come across as eminently trustworthy and upstanding. When Peter gets down on one knee to propose going to prom together, he looks like a grown man proposing marriage. The pair are as settled in their snuggling as an old married couple. They argue, break up, make up, and more, but for a film about teens facing grown-up decisions, there's a certain amount of real-to-life angst and passion missing here. Whether that feels refreshing or superficial may depend on who's watching.