Recess: School’s Out parents guide

Recess: School’s Out Parent Guide

Overall C+

Violence B
Sexual Content A-
Profanity A-
Substance Use A

Why is Recess: School’s Out rated G? The MPAA rated Recess: School’s Out G

Parent Movie Review

Recess: School's Out - Official site Recess: School’s Out brings Saturday morning cartoon characters T.J. Detweiler (voice of Andrew Lawrence) and his elementary chums to the big screen. As the final seconds of the school year tick to a close, T.J. has big plans for how the gang will spend their summer… until all of his pals shuttle off to camps, and his vacation suddenly looms ahead of him like an extended detention. It is only after a pulsating green glow and big-boned, bald guy lurking in front of the school catch his eye that things start to perk up for T.J.

Recess: School's Out - Official site Discovering that the auditorium of 3rd Street Elementary has been converted to a sort of mad scientist’s headquarters by former Education Minister Phil Benedict (voice of James Woods) whose evil designs include eliminating summer vacation, T.J. goes for help, first to the adults who are not only dim-witted and short-sighted, but incapable of effecting any change. Coddled by his parents, laughed off by the local police detachment and dismissed by his own principal, Mr. Prickly (voice of Dabney Coleman), T.J. decides to take things into his own hands. Threatening to publish excerpts from her diary on the Internet, T.J. coerces his older sister into retrieving his absentee friends and together they plan an attack to take back the school. But when Benedict and his goons capture T.J., the Recess pals realize it will take as many of the student body, staff, and playground toys they can muster to outwit and outmaneuver the evil Benedict.

Recess: School's Out - Official site Recess, set to snappy 60’s tunes, squarely places the fate of 3rd Street school and summer vacation in the hands of fourth graders, a rather onerous responsibility even for someone as precocious and trouble savvy as T.J. Detweiler. Although the film promotes teamwork to overcome formidable odds, it’s promotion of anti-authority attitudes consigns adults to sit in the corner while posing young viewers with an unsettling question: If you are at the peak of power and mental prowess in the fourth grade, why would you ever want to grow up and leave recess behind?

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Recess: School’s Out
Rating & Content Info

Why is Recess: School’s Out rated G? Recess: School’s Out is rated G by the MPAA

Overall: C+
While lacking content that we normally grade as unacceptable, this movie is devoid of positive adult role models, depicts anti-authority attitudes, and portrays children as being left alone to solve their problems.

Violence: B
Laser-type gun dematerializes principal, adult falls from height and lands on child, military camp leader yells at troops, conflict portrayed between principal and student, children chased, captured and caged by guards and Ninjas, children use marbles, jump ropes, balls and TV wrestling moves to fight bad adults, students and teachers engage in mass brawl with bad guys.

Sexual Content: A-
Adult shown in shirt and boxer shorts.

Language: A-
Use of name calling, some directed from child to adult.

Alcohol / Drug Use: A
None.

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Recess: School’s Out Parents' Guide

How does the choice of names (Principal Prickly) further stereotype characters found in this film?

As a resident of Canada, I would just like to clarify that contrary to the information in this film, we do have recess here and our kids play outside in almost every kind of weather. Though I’d like to think we have the highest test scores in the world, if this movie is the source of that statistic, then the credibility of the information may be in doubt.

Home Video

Related home video titles:

For movies that portray teachers and adults as positive role models, check out Mr. Holland’s Opus , or Stand and Deliver .