Parents' Guide to

Pompeii: Disaster Street

By Monique Jones, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Doc on the Pompeii ruins is dry but promotes curiosity.

TV Max Reality TV 2020
Pompeii: Disaster Street Poster Image

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This documentary is a great resource for students writing historical papers on the legacy of Pompeii, but if you're watching it for entertainment, you might find it a little boring. The English dub of Pompeii: Disaster Street​​​,​ placed over the native Italian spoken by the excavation team, probably contributes to some of the documentary's lackluster feeling. For viewers who get distracted by dubbed programs over ones with subtitles, the jarring dub could keep them from fully investing in the information being presented. Also, the program feels like it doesn't fully engage its audience; while the excavation team is excited about what they are learning, the excitement isn't ever fully conveyed to the audience.

However, fans of ancient Rome who can overlook boring presentations will find in Pompeii: Disaster Street many nuggets of fun information. For instance, a new date in 79 AD is found for Mount Vesuvius' eruption, changing what historians have accepted as fact for decades. The team also finds a strange mosaic that redefines the types of art and symbolism historians believed were present in Pompeii at the time. Overall, Pompeii: Disaster Street is full of fun facts that, like Pompeii itself, must be unearthed with patience.

TV Details

  • Premiere date: January 1, 2020
  • Network: Max
  • Genre: Reality TV
  • Topics: History
  • Character Strengths: Curiosity
  • TV rating: TV-PG
  • Last updated: June 25, 2021

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