Four Kids and It Parent Guide

Bookworm Ros (Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen) and her little brother, Robbie (Billy Jenkins) are grieving the absence of their mother, who has left them to “find herself” at university. Smash (also known as Samantha and played by Ashley Aufderheide), angry and rebellious at 13, is exorcising her rage at her absent, uncaring father by throwing rocks at the windows of empty buildings. When Ros and Robbie discover that they will be spending their holidays with Smash and her younger sister Maddie, they are almost as angry as Smash. But when they find a Psammaed, a strange CGI sand creature voiced by Michael Caine, it looks like their dreams have come true.

The Psammead is a magical being who grants wishes – one a day, but nothing longer than a sentence. “You don’t want a wish,” he tells the disbelieving youngsters. “They never work out. There’s consequences.” And the four kids discover the consequences almost immediately. As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.”

Parents might not find Four Kids and It to be the pinnacle of cinematic achievement but it doesn’t contain a lot of negative content. There is some minor social drinking and some plot driven violence, none of which is terribly scary for most kids over age six or so. There’s plenty of flatulence humor, but kids generally think that’s a plus. (After the Psammead swells up and deflates, he tells the complaining children that their wishes depend on “enchanted stomach gases”. I sincerely hope that nobody in the probiotics industry ever sees this film. Imagine the commercials.) The movie also features a creepy character played by Russell Brand who set off my stranger danger alarm. I don’t think he’s likely to frighten most viewers, but I found him terrifying in a purely how-low-can-he-go-for-pay kind of way.

On the plus side, the film fulfills parents’ wish lists for movies with morals. The young characters learn and grow over the course of the story, eventually modeling positive behaviors like making the best of a difficult situation, working together, adapting to change, and caring for others. My biggest wish for this film is better acting; Ashley Aufderheide is particularly weak as Smash, literally smashing her way through dialogue with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I might also mention a preference for a less disturbing-looking psammaed since the one in this film is neither cuddly nor charming. That might, however, be a blessing in disguise, since this magical critter is unlikely to spawn the avalanche of merchandise that would ensue were he cute and huggable. For such tender mercies, we can all be grateful.