After Earth parents guide

After Earth Parent Guide

If your teens can get past the violence, "After Earth" offers a surprisingly positive viewing option.

Overall B

Man was forced to flee Earth over 1000 years ago because the planet's plants and animals had become inhospitable to humans. Now Cypher Raige and his teenaged son Kitai (Will and Jaden Smith) have crash-landed in the hostile environment and it will take all their wits to survive.

Release date May 31, 2013

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

Why is After Earth rated PG-13? The MPAA rated After Earth PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some disturbing images

Run Time: 115 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

Worried about your retirement fund? If Hollywood’s predictions are right, society as we know it will be long gone before most of us can cash in on our 401K. Almost every other movie this year portrays some apocalyptic event. And while After Earth takes place at least 1000 years into the future, retirement programs are definitely not in place on the planet. Thanks to the destructive actions of mankind, all humans have long since been removed to colonize less polluted globes.

While on a routine flight to deliver cargo from one intergalactic location to another, a team of futuristic humans crashes on the toxic blue planet. When the smoke clears, the Prime Commander Cypher Raige (Will Smith) and his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) are the only survivors.

Despite the fact that almost everyone in the future wears the seemingly obligatory jumpsuit (fashion designers apparently don’t survive the end of the world), other things haven’t changed that much, at least when it comes to human interactions. Like many adults today, Cypher works lots of overtime. His job involves killing gruesome alien monsters that have been bred to hunt and destroy human beings. His son is a sensitive yet impetuous youth who tries to prove himself to his father. Cypher’s wife Faia (Sophie Okonedo) had hoped the trip would give the pair time to connect. What she hadn’t planned on was the crash.

Treating his son more like one of his cadets than his offspring, Cypher defaults to commander mode once the plane goes down. Suffering two broken legs, he is unable to retrieve a missing beacon they needs to signal for help. As their only hope for survival, he sends Kitai on the 100-kilometer journey through hostile territory to find it.

The story, written by Will Smith and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, puts a lot of pressure on the younger Smith who spends most of his time alone on screen, since much of the drama takes place in two separate locations (the injured dad is in the downed ship and the son is on the surface of the dangerous planet). While Tom Hanks managed to pull off a solo act in Cast Away, the challenge proves to be a lot more difficult for the relatively inexperienced Jaden. But although the performances are the weakest link in this big screen production, the script addresses issues that many families with adolescents can relate to. This dad and teen must learn to appreciate and respect each other. And Kitai must face his fears and control his emotions (something his character also had to learn in The Karate Kid).

The biggest threat on the boy’s journey (that ends at the top of a volcanic ash spewing mountain straight out of Lord of the Rings) is a man-hunting monster like the ones his father fights. After capturing its prey, the beast impales its victims on tree branches as a warning to the other humans. These gruesome depictions, along with the portrayal of several dead bodies, half-eaten animals and bloody accident injuries, are the film’s only real content issues.

If your teen can get past that, After Earth offers a surprisingly positive viewing option for older family members. Watching this real life father and son team work through their characters’ familial turbulence on the big screen may encourage parents and kids to find ways to reinvest in the future of their own relationship.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Isabelle Fuhrman, Sophie Okonedo. Running time: 115 minutes. Theatrical release May 31, 2013. Updated

After Earth
Rating & Content Info

Why is After Earth rated PG-13? After Earth is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sci-fi action violence and some disturbing images

Violence: Characters are killed or injured in a spaceship crash. Numerous dead bodies are seen. Scenes of pollution, floods and riots are shown. A monstrous creature kills and impales humans on tree branches or other objects (one scene of such an attack is replayed several times). A ship is battered during an asteroid storm. Animals hunt and attack other animals and humans. A man performs surgery on himself; blood is depicted. A character nearly freezes to death. Brief explicit fighting between a creature and humans involves blood and disturbing images. Characters experience peril on several occasions.

Sexual Content: Brief embracing or kissing is depicted between family members.

Language: Mild cursing is used a couple of times in the script.

Alcohol / Drug Use: Medicinal drugs are administered by injection for life saving purposes.

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After Earth Parents' Guide

How does Kitai’s rash actions and anxiety hamper his ability to make good decisions? Why does his father repeatedly tell him to “take a knee”? How does this action help him refocus? What similar actions could you use to help you regroup either your emotions or thoughts?

What does Kitai learn about his father from the cadet who insists on standing and saluting Cypher? Is it sometimes easier to show respect to those outside of our family than within? How does the death of Kitai’s sister impact the relationship between this father and son? What feelings about the event do each of them have to overcome in order to build a father/son relationship?

Despite the fact that Kitai is the son of the Prime Commander, the officer in charge of ranger training does not allow the boy to advance to ranger status. What does Kitai learn from the experience? Can children and teens be disadvantaged when they are given things they have not earned?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of After Earth movie is October 8, 2013. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: After Earth

Release Date: 8 October 2013

After Earth releases to home video (Blu-ray/DVD/Ultraviolet Digital Copy) with the following extras:

- Featurette: A Father’s Legacy (Will and Jaden Smith on and off screen)

- Featurette: 1,000 Years in 300 Seconds (On Location with the Cast)

- Featurette: The Nature of the Future (A look at the landscapes and creatures of the film)

- XPRIZE After Earth Robotics Challenge winning video (The reveal of the winning team’s video, with an introduction by Jaden Smith as Kitai Raige)

Exclusive HD Content

- Featurette: Building a World (A glimpse into the creation of the After Earth universe)

- Featurette: Pre-Visualizing the Future (A next-generation approach to action sequences)

- Featurette: The Animatics of After Earth (Storyboards and animatics)

- Alternate Version of the Film’s Opening Sequence

Related home video titles:

Real life father and son Will and Jaden Smith also acted together in The Pursuit of Happyness. Another space traveler lands on an Earth-like orb, but finds it inhospitable to humans in Planet Of The Apes (1968). Mankind was forced to leave their home due to poor ecological management in WALL-E. Director M. Night Shyamalan made a name for himself telling tales with strange twists with the movies The Sixth Sense and The Village.

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