Each week we look at the cinema releases for young kids to teens, under the age of 18.
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First up is one recommended by the experts at our friends, the film education charity FILMCLUB…
Water for Elephants
Cert: 12
Duration: 112 mins
Year Produced: 2011
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider
Told using the cinematic device of the flashback, Water For Elephants sees Jacob studying to be a vet at one of Americaβs best universities during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He is just about to take his exams when he finds out that both of his parents have died in a car accident.
Distraught, Jacob quits his studies and runs away, ending up on a train owned by a circus company. He is taken in by them and begins looking after the circusβs maltreated collection of animals, including an elephant called Rosie.
Jacob soon falls in love with circus performer Marlena, but she is married to his boss β the heartless man who trains the animals they all work with…
Like this? Then also try these great films: Dumbo (1941, U), Titanic (1997, 12), The Circus (1929, U), The Greatest Show On Earth (1952, U), Freaks (1932, 15)
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Click here to return to the Fun Kids FILMCLUB section for more news, reviews and interviews!
A completely different type of film, but this one also gets the FILMCLUB stamp of approval!
Priest
Cert: 12
Duration: 87 mins
Year Produced: 2011
Director: Scott Stewart
Cast: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Cam Gigandet
Latching onto the current craze for 3D, this visually spectacular American horror is based on a Korean comic.
Set in an alternate world where humans and vampires have been at war for centuries, it centres on a Warrior Priest who lives in obscurity in a grim walled-in city ruled by the Church.
When his niece is kidnapped by a pack of vampires, he breaks his sacred vows to go on the hunt for them before she can be made one of their kind.
Her wasteland sheriff boyfriend and a former Warrior Priestess with astounding fighting skills join this high-adrenaline quest.
Like this? Then also try these great films: Night Watch (2004, 15), Dracula (1931, U), Nosferatu (1922, U), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, 15), Let The Right One (2008, 15)
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Click here to return to the Fun Kids FILMCLUB section for more news, reviews and interviews!
One more film, also with the FILMCLUB stamp of approval!
Bobby Fischer Against the World
Cert: 12
Duration: 93 mins
Year Produced: 2011
Director: Liz Garbus
Chess might not get many people excited these days, but in 1972 it was a global obsession, thanks to a former child prodigy called Bobby Fischer.
Squaring up to reigning Russian champ Boris Spassky, the American genius snatched the world chess title in a “Match of the Century”.
It was a nail-biting highlight in an extraordinary career, and as this intimate and interview-packed documentary explores, catapulted Fischer to mega-stardom.
However, the brilliant mind that gave him such incredible talent was also his worst enemy, dramatically unravelling when the pressure of fame got too much.
The resulting mess of paranoia, conspiracy theories, racism and madness makes for an enthralling story, though it cost tragic Fischer everything he’d achieved.
Like this? Then also try these great films: A Beautiful Mind (2001, 12), Pi (1998, 15), Shine (1996, 12), When We Were Kings (1996, PG), The Seventh Seal (1957, PG)
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Click here to return to the Fun Kids FILMCLUB section for more news, reviews and interviews!