The Tomorrow War parents guide

The Tomorrow War Parent Guide

High speed action, scary aliens, and the future of the planet all come together in this fun action flick.

Overall B-

Amazon Prime: Dan Forester has years of combat experience with Delta Force, but he's about to face his toughest challenge yet. A war occurring thirty years into the future threatens to destroy all of humanity, and the government of the future is looking for soldiers from the past.

Release date July 2, 2021

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

Why is The Tomorrow War rated PG-13? The MPAA rated The Tomorrow War PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and some suggestive references.

Run Time: 140 minutes

Parent Movie Review

Unable to find lab work in his field, Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) is stuck teaching science to uninterested high school students. His days are montonous until military officers from the future burst into his life with an urgent demand for his assistance. In 2051, humanity has been nearly eliminated by a race of nearly unstoppable voracious aliens and are close to extinction. With fewer than half a million human survivors, the military draft has been expanded to include humans living in the past. Volunteers and conscripts come to the future for one week tours of duty, with a survival rate hovering around 20%. Dan’s previous experience in the Special Forces uniquely qualifies him for service, and he soon finds himself in 2051 trying to rescue scientists who have been working on a biological weapon to destroy the alien threat. But with the science team dead, Dan and the mysterious colonel known as Romeo Command (Yvonne Strahovsky) must finish their work before all of humanity is eliminated for good.

This is, as you might expect, not a particularly groundbreaking flick. Think Edge of Tomorrow…that’s about it. The Tomorrow War isn’t a rip-off of the earlier film and it certainly takes the premise in a different direction but the core of the story is remarkably similar. Humanity uses time-travel to beat aliens. It’s not that complicated. What it is, however, is surprisingly fun.

I was fully prepared to hate this movie. First off, it’s nearly two and a half hours long, which is unequivocally too long for an action movie. If you can’t blow up everything that needs blowing up in 90 minutes, you’re wasting my time. Thankfully, The Tomorrow War manages to maintain the pacing through relentless action and a solid three act structure that keeps the story chugging along, even if you can guess the inevitable conclusion from the first twenty minutes or so.

Parents don’t have too much to worry about if they’re considering watching this with teenagers. This certainly isn’t a film for young children, but teens will likely have a good time with the high-speed insanity on screen. There is a fair bit of violence, though, so if you’ve got squeamish kids this may be a poor choice. There’s also a non-trivial amount of scatological profanity, although at least 30 of those were dropped rapid-fire in a two minute scene. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have been cussing up a storm if I was getting attacked by flesh-hungry aliens with entirely too many teeth, but it was a pretty intense concentration of swearing for kids. Otherwise, pop some popcorn, turn your brain firmly into the off position, and prepare to watch some intrepid humans give the aliens their just desserts.

Directed by Chris McKay. Starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, and J.K. Simmons. Running time: 140 minutes. Theatrical release July 2, 2021. Updated

Watch the trailer for The Tomorrow War

The Tomorrow War
Rating & Content Info

Why is The Tomorrow War rated PG-13? The Tomorrow War is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and some suggestive references.

Violence: Individuals are killed in explosions and eaten or impaled by aliens. Aliens are seen being shot, burned, blown up, and poisoned.
Sexual Content: None.
Profanity: There are 42 uses of scatological profanity and one extreme profanity. There are infrequent uses of mild profanities and terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: None.

Page last updated

The Tomorrow War Parents' Guide

Dan learns some hard lessons about his future. How do they affect his relationships with Muri? What about his relationship with his father? What do you think prompted those changes?

Arctic ice is melting worryingly quickly, and even if there aren’t murderous aliens hiding inside it, the consequences of inaction could be staggering. What can you do to ensure that Earth remains habitable? What are some current examples of climate change causing dangerous problems? What is your government’s position on climate change?

Home Video

Related home video titles:

This film borrows elements from Edge of Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, The Thing, Alien, and Aliens. Viewers may also enjoy Sputnik, District 9, or Apollo 18.