Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Very graphic content in faith-based abortion biopic.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
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Where to Watch
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Unplanned
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 95 parent reviews
Parents say this film presents a powerful, emotional story that offers a unique perspective on abortion, highlighting the transformative journey of a former Planned Parenthood director. However, opinions vary; some viewers deem it a valuable educational tool for teens, while others criticize it for perceived inaccuracies and promote an agenda, calling it propaganda rather than a balanced portrayal of the issue.
- emotional storytelling
- graphic content
- educational value
- varying perspectives
- agenda criticism
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 44 kid reviews
What's the Story?
Based on the same-named 2010 memoir, UNPLANNED is a complicated true story about Planned Parenthood exec turned pro-life protester Abby Johnson (Ashley Bratcher). After joining Planned Parenthood as a volunteer in college, Abby moves up the ranks thanks to her hard work and ethical stance on the importance of allowing women access to healthcare, birth control, and abortions. Before long, she's a clinic director, overseeing thousands of chemical and surgical abortions in her years at Planned Parenthood. But when Abby is called in to assist during a "procedure" one day and witnesses what really happens in the operating room, her viewpoint abruptly changes, and she joins the pro-life movement -- and the protesters who've been demonstrating outside her clinic for years.
Is It Any Good?
By turns emotionally affecting, ponderous, and as difficult to watch as the most graphic horror movie, this polarizing drama gives a complex subject a somewhat nuanced take. Without a doubt, Unplanned's most controversial scene (as well as the most gripping) is the surgical abortion that's shown just a few minutes into the movie. As the camera cuts between the callous, impatient doctor (who murmurs, "Beam me up, Scotty" when turning on the procedure's vacuum equipment) and the crying, sweating young woman on the operating table, viewers might well get nervous. But that's nothing compared to the movie's single most horrifying scene, in which Abby watches the fetus try to cling to the uterus before being sucked out in a deluge of blood and tissue plopping into a collection container.
It's easy to imagine such a horrifying sight changing Abby Johnson's mind about her job. It's also easy to imagine all the women who were left alone with the lifelong demands of raising children they didn't want to have after Johnson's Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas was closed, a moment the movie treats as an unqualified win. Lacking complexity, too, is the treatment of Planned Parenthood, which is personified here by a top exec who coldly considers abortions as a way to pump up her firm's bottom line. Planned Parenthood comes off so badly in this film, in fact, that viewers may wonder what's the real "big bad" driving this story: abortion or Planned Parenthood? In short, Unplanned does offer a more complex take on abortion than faith-based films usually manage. But it's about half an hour too long, and strident enough that it's unlikely to do much more than preach to the already converted.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the appeal of faith-based films like Unplanned. Do they appeal equally to viewers of faith and to secular audiences? Do they have to?
How does the violence in Unplanned compare to what you might see in other dramas? Do the movie's graphic scenes have more impact due to their realism?
How do Abby and other characters in this movie display empathy and compassion? Why are these important character strengths?
Movie Details
- In theaters : March 29, 2019
- On DVD or streaming : August 13, 2019
- Cast : Ashley Bratcher , Brooks Ryan , Robia Scott
- Directors : Chuck Konzelman , Cary Solomon
- Studio : Pure Flix Entertainment
- Genre : Drama
- Character Strengths : Compassion , Empathy
- Run time : 106 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : some disturbing/bloody images
- Last updated : February 15, 2023
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