Let's set the scene.....
You've picked the movie, you've popped the popcorn, everyone's comfy. You pop in the movie and things are going well. You're laughing and smiling and enjoying family time. And then it happens, that scene you forgot about, or those words that made you cringe.
Oh, shoot! Wasn't this supposed to be a kid's movie? How could I forget about this?! You cover the kid's eyes while your spouse fumbles around trying to turn it off, or fast-forward, or even just hope the electricity goes out. Give us a break, right?!
You've been there, I know you have because I've been there too! But, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that I've been carrying around for a while. With a simple click, you won't have to worry anymore if the movie is kid-friendly, or stands up to your convictions.
You're New BFF
These movie review sites for Christian parents will be your BFF when it comes to your next family movie night! I can almost guarantee that you'll find family-friendly movie reviews on the show of your choice via one of these sites.
I do find it interesting that not one of these websites will give you a definitive "do not watch" or "definitely watch" at the end of the review. To make your decision, you will still need to gather information from the reviews and make a judgment call based on your family values and expectations.
You might find it helpful to look at more than one site to get a more well-rounded perspective! Fortunately, most of these websites use headings and organize the posts so you can quickly scan for the content that matters most, such as sexual content, profanity, violence, or nudity.
I've put this list in order of preference, so I recommend you start at the top of the list for the best information and then work your way down when you can't find what you need. If you need to make a fast decision the DOVE site has the most concise information. But if it's the details you are looking for, I'd go with Plugged In first every time.
I don't know how many times we've pulled out a movie we watched ourselves as kids and remembered fondly, only to get ten minutes into the movie and turn it off in shock. Growing up, growing in faith, and having children of our own certainly changes how we view content. For this reason, I'm glad we have sites that review older movies and not just the most current content.
8 Movie Review Sites for Christian Parents
Plugged In
This one is, by far, my favorite review site to check in on. I've used it numerous times, and not just for kids' movies. We even check videos out for ourselves using this site too! It never fails to disappoint us with accuracy or detail, the writers at Focus on the Family really do a great job! If you have tweens, it would be perfectly safe to have them read the Plugged In review for the video in question before they ask you for permission. This will give your teens an excellent overview of things to watch for and also save you significant time as they will do the narrowing down for you.
Common Sense Media
This next movie review site is my second favorite. Like Plugged In, Common Sense Media is incredibly thorough and provides independent reviews based upon age, ratings, and other pertinent information you'll definitely want to know about. This site was started to help parents navigate the digital age and protect their children from the unknown effects of too much media. If you can't find what you are looking for on PluggedIn, you will find all the recent movies reviewed here!
Kinds In Mind
With a scaled rating of Sex/Nudity, Violence/Gore, and Language, the system works pretty well for this company. While I was hoping that this movie review site was geared mainly towards Christian parents, they do state that they are independent of all political and religious viewpoints.
Dove
I didn't even know that Dove had their own movie review system. But, they've got a pretty good thing going here. I don't find that it's as detailed as some of the others here, but it could definitely get the job done if you need just a little snippet of information so you can make a quick decision.
Movie Guide
This is not your old-fashioned movie guide (like I was thinking it was) it actually is very informative and ranks at the top of the list for me! While the site doesn't have much information about its roots, the site has a ton of movie reviews that are available!
Raising Children
I had never heard of this site until I started doing a little more digging on movie review sites for Christian parents. While this one is not Christian based, and not as detailed in the information, it does cover its bases- so we'll still list it as a good option for movie review sites for parents.
Box Office Mom
She's a great movie buff, but I do feel as though it's a little less informative and a little more dependent on her own opinions when it comes to how her movies are rated. Yet, you may enjoy that real-life review about it. I also love throwing her in here to support another mom blogger!
Parent Previews
Parent Previews is just, well, okay. The problem is that with some of their movie reviews they have a disclaimer that they have not actually viewed the movie yet and the information is gathered from an outside source. No thanks.
Looking for more than just a review site?
If you're looking for clean entertainment and want specific recommendations, you can check out these posts: Best Clean Shows on Netflix, Clean TV Shows on Amazon Prime, and Faith & Family Movies that you absolutely need to see too!
You might also like these:
All of these sites are different, so it really depends on your personal preference as to which site you'll refer to when looking for a family-friendly movie review. The top two listed are my favorites, but you may be happy with what another site has to offer!
How do you do your due diligence when choosing what movies are "good enough" for your children?
