Cowboys & Aliens - Parents Movie Review

PG-13 rating for family movie

MPAA Rating
PG-13

for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and and a brief crude reference

Genre
Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Western, Thriller

Director
Jon Favreau

Starring
Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano

Studio
Universal

Release Date/In Theaters
7/29/2011

Movie Summary

Not exactly what you'd expect from a good old western. Cowboys and Indians match wits with Aliens! Cowboys and Aliens is a movie based on a book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, where the local cowboys and the Apache tribe join forces to battle aliens.

Movie Review for Parents

-by Ginger

This week’s family movie reviews take you from World War II to the Wild West. The year is 1873 and aliens have landed in Arizona. No, this is not a movie about Roswell, but aliens and Arizona seem to go together for some reason. In this movie, a stranger who has absolutely no memory of his past stumbles into the remote desert town of Absolution. When he arrives in town, people do not exactly roll out the red carpet and welcome him with open arms. It seems that they don’t like strangers in that part of the Arizona Territory, particularly those who have no memory of their past and come in wearing a mysterious alien shackle on their wrist.

Absolution, Arizona thinks that it has a lot of trouble. They have a Sheriff that runs the town with an iron fist, played appropriately by Harrison Ford. He’s a tough guy and has the people living in fear of him. Well, this family guide to the movies has more in store Pardner, and the people of Absolution absolutely forget about their problems with their Sheriff when the aliens arrive.

Well, you know how aliens are, sweeping down on innocent people out of nowhere and taking them to who knows where. One by one the people of absolution are abducted by aliens. The stranger that they rejected slowly starts to regain his memory and when he knows where he’s been, he becomes the town’s only hope.

This movie was rated PG 13 for the intense scenes of violence. This movie combines Sci-Fi with the classic western adventure. It has some partial nudity and a few not so appropriate for small children comments. Other than that, it’s just your everyday average cowboy vs. aliens action flick. This movie reminded me of War of the Worlds meets High Noon. I would not suggest taking small children to it, because they might have nightmares about alien abductions and you might end up with little extra guests in your bed at night. This movie is just too scary for the little ones.

If you have a preteen or older take them to go see it, if not just for curiosity. This family guide to the movies thinks this is one of the most original concepts that has came along in a long time. The genre of the movie is steam punk and if you are a parent who doesn’t know what that is yet, go to the movie and you will probably be educated about this new form of fashion for teens.

This is a fun movie with an original concept and is sure to spark your imagination. This movie is bigger and better than anything that has been done in a long time. You can’t go wrong with Ron Howard as the director and Harrison Ford as lead. Aliens and cowboys, what more could the kid in you ever want? Just leave the little ones at the sitter.