Swallows and Amazons Parent Guide

Swallows and Amazons opens in 1930s England, with the Walker family bereft of husband and father - Captain Walker is in the South China Sea, commanding a British naval destroyer. His wife (Kelly Macdonald) takes their baby and four other children, John, Susan, Tatty and Roger (played by Dane Hughes, Orla Hill, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, and Bobby McCulloch) for a vacation in England’s scenic Lake District. Once there, the kids mount a successful campaign to persuade their mother that they are responsible enough to sail their landlord’s boat, The Swallow, to the island in the middle of the lake and camp out for several days without adult supervision.

Contemporary parents will be astonished at the amount of independence the children enjoy. But Mrs. Walker is determined that her children enjoy the kind of freedom she had in her Highland youth: “They’re cooped up inside too much at home. I don’t want them afraid of the world.”

The independence Mrs. Walker allows her youngsters must be earned, however. They have to prove their sailing proficiency and help Roger get his swimming skills up to standard. They sew tents, make flags, pack essential cooking supplies, and work together. And this turns out to be a good thing when the kids face the loss of their food hamper, a turf war with two wannabe pirates crewing The Amazon, and international intrigue with Russian spies (one played with sly humor by Andrew Scott.) Their adventures will require co-operation, unity, loyalty, hard work, courage, and ingenuity.

Parents won’t have much trouble anticipating the trajectory of the movie’s plot. But they don’t have to worry about content issues. The only potential area of concern is violence – after all, there are spies with guns in the movie. But none of the violence is graphic or gratuitous and it will only frighten the most sensitive children. This movie was produced in the United Kingdom and was not rated in the US, but it fits very comfortably in the PG category.

Swallows and Amazons moves a bit slower than most adventure movies geared at kids, but it doesn’t get boring. It may lack frenetic action sequences, but it more than compensates with warm sibling relationships; lessons about honesty, bravery, responsibility, and working together; and some glorious scenery. It manages to chart a course to adventure that will be appreciated by children and parents alike.