Hello, all! Sorry it’s been quite a while, I’ve been busy recently with the start of the school year. I'm going to try to release my next post -on reggaeton songs- on time, but we'll see. I may have to slow down to monthly posts. ;n; Even if that happens, I'll do my best to put out extra content when I can! d(^-^)

This summer has been a bit disappointing in the movie category. Where I was at, the movie theaters kept opening and closing so that no one could keep track of whether or not the movie theaters were shut down at any given time. The release dates of all the big movies like Fast and Furious 9 and Black Widow kept being pushed back, too. Even now, those movies haven’t been released in my area. Thanks, Covid. :(

If you’ve experienced something similar, or are just looking for new entertainment, then this article is for you! My family consumed an unhealthy amount of films these past three months. (^-^)ゞ Not all of them were very clean, but here I present to you a list of ten that were.

#1 Wish Dragon

I was not expecting to love this movie. I had assumed that either it was a Chinese movie dubbed in English, in which case some of the cultural norms and jokes wouldn’t translate over, or a Western movie set in China, in which case the jokes and cultural norms would be unrealistically Western considering the setting. (If you can’t tell, I’m a culture nerd so the latter is a pet peeve of mine.)

This movie kept me guessing as to which it was. The cultural details didn’t seem Western, but most of the jokes would have registered as equally hilarious with a person from Western culture as with a person from Asian culture. Besides that, there were no awkward phrases that often come with dubbing. I looked it up, and the movie is probably like that because it was directed by Chris Appelhans and produced by Jackie Chan (and yes, there is a mandarin version of the movie).

Besides the pleasant blend of cultures, the animation and voice acting were much better than I expected. I felt it was actually one of the higher-end animated movies that would be released this year. The plot was entertaining. Even though they used some common tropes in the movie, they added twists to those tropes that made for a satisfying diversion from the standard development of them. Besides that, the movie is squeaky clean and rated PG.

This movie is rated PG, but I re-watched it with my friends and caught a couple swear words (he** and a**). The movie is about boxing, so there's also some action/violence, but it's only in the context of the sport. Overall, the movie is super wholesome and has really strong Christian themes throughout.

It's the best movie I've seen that isn't a blockbuster. The actors are all incredibly immersed in their roles and do their quirky characters justice. The writers gave the movie an engaging plot and loads of humor which make it perfect for watching with the family.

This movie is also PG and quite clean. There is some mild violence and dark themes, but most of it is only implied and the movie has an overall inspirational tone similar to Here Comes the Boom. This is another great film for teachers since the main character is a burnt-out teacher (more of a coach, but whatever) rediscovering his motivation, much like the one in Here Comes the Boom. I first watched this movie at an end of season party with my cross country team, so that’s another setting this would be great for.

There’s a lot about this movie I love. It’s about a football coach who starts a cross country team in New Mexico in the 1980’s. Cross Country is a fairly underrated sport, so I can say this is probably the best movie focused on the sport. My team loved this movie because of how well it portrayed the way the sport works.

That’s most likely because this movie’s based on a true story (bonus points!). Every year after we first watched that movie my team still begs to watch it again for our party. As someone who lives overseas, watching the coach go through the culture shock of moving from a predominantly white culture into a town that’s predominantly Latino also struck a chord. Besides that, I loved this as a culture nerd.

While rated PG on Netflix, there are some adult jokes in this movie. However, most of them go over kids’ heads. I even asked my brother if he caught any of the jokes, being a young teen, but he only understood one. Overall, the movie’s wholesome and well-written with a few twists I did not see coming.

Being a weird hybrid of a kids’ movie & an action movie for older audiences, there are some stilted moments. At one moment the characters are acting like slightly mature kids and at the next the characters are acting like actual adults. It’s kind of jarring, but may have been a clever move on the filmmakers’ part to try and entice all ages. Besides that, it seems to encompass how, despite being a show meant for kids, Pokemon is beloved by older audiences as well.

This movie had some strong swearing, though it wouldn't be at the R level. It’s definitely not a film meant for kids and I doubt it would entice many children below the age of the teens either. The movie is shot in the typical documentary relayed as a story fashion -with lots of drama and some mild violence- found in most movies based on historical events.

Beyond the language there isn’t much I would deem not clean about the movie. I think it would be scary for kids even if they're allowed to see movies with swear words since the movie is shot with thriller tones (nothing freaky or gory happens but it is suspenseful). Besides that, the movie is about a plane crash-landing into the Hudson so that would most likely traumatize young people (I know it would have certainly traumatized me as a child).

Anyway, while that initial review might sound harsh, I actually loved the movie. I think it would be great to watch for people who are older (teens and up) and don’t have a strong fear of planes. If you’re someone who loves history and generally likes Tom Hanks movies like me, you’ll probably love this movie too. What makes it especially interesting is the focus on what the pilots have to deal with after the plane crash and how this sort of event could affect their careers and even the rest of their lives. As someone who regularly travels, I found this incredibly interesting and enlightening.

I still scoff at this movie’s PG rating. Sure, there isn’t any swearing or sexual content (if you don’t count kissing), but the violence is action movie-level stuff. I feel the action in this movie is much more excessive than the action in Sully, even though the suspenseful mood in Sully might make it scarier. To be fair, I can say the movie is quite clean. However, I can’t sit through the movie and honestly tell myself I would take a child under the age of eight to see that. Though, that doesn’t really mean anything since there is no official 8+ rating for movies.

Anyway, I’ve always found the more adult approach to the movie’s themes and characters very refreshing. This is a unique take on the story I could have never predicted. I remember drinking in every detail of it the first time I saw the film, despite being anxious over the violence, which is not a common thing for me. Though I can’t say this movie will definitely go down in the next few decades as a classic like other older Disney movies (the original Sleeping Beauty, for example), I can say that I like to envision that it would.

While this movie definitely has some inappropriate scenes, I think it could be great for kids with a little fast-forwarding here and there. If you’re going to watch this with kids I suggest watching it yourself the first time around. Despite how bad that sounds, the movie deals with some sketchy themes like adultery/cheating pretty well, actually. I should issue a fair warning: while there are some Christian themes in the movie that may make it come off as such, this movie isn’t technically a “Christian movie.”

Rather, it’s probably one of the only secular movies out there that deals with Christianity in the most neutral tone a person could take on any topic. There were jokes made about Christianity and jokes made about Atheism and in the end the movie came off as a pure comedy with no intention of degrading either side. Besides that obvious plus, the music in it was awesome.

While this movie uses a vocabulary that won’t register as well with kids, it is definitely aimed at them as well as adults. I can still recall loving this movie along with my siblings as a young elementary schooler (back then my parents had to be present to fast-forward though). The way the main plot is narrated by a grandfather reading a story to his grandson was definitely a move to cement this and it was quite clever. Another part of the appeal is how it is played out like a fairytale, but is filled with subtle comedy to stay entertaining on both fronts. There's a lot of action too. I should warn there are sword fights (if you like sword fights that's great, but be vigilant for the kindergartners you may choose to introduce this movie to).

I mentioned this movie to one of my close friends and was horrified to find out that she had never heard of it. I immediately insisted we watch it together (in the future) and I guess that left an impression on her because she later told me she watched it with her family (without me!). She loved this movie. The very reason I can list this as a movie I watched this summer is because we watched it together with her younger sister when I stayed over at her house for a few days.

The trailer to this movie is kind of misleading though. It feels like they were trying to use the ad to promote a Barbie movie rather than The Princess Bride.

This movie had a very modern tone. Everything about it clicked with me and my siblings as Gen Zs. I found the humor silly and the unique style the movie was animated in refreshing. I especially loved how the family was portrayed. Each member had unique hopes and fears that made each one a deep character that experienced development throughout the film. I can’t say for sure whether I only feel this way because each family member shared parallels with the members of my family, but I found this to be one of the most convincing portrayals of a family I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Overall, this movie was clean. There's some action but it should be fine for elementary schoolers. The main character is LGBT but it's not obvious so my fellow Christians can decide whether you'll watch it or not. I think it would be fine for older people, but my parents were always cautious about this stuff when I was very young.

I found this movie hilarious as a child and probably shouldn’t have been surprised to find it hilarious now that I’m older. What added to the experience was when I realized a depth to the characters that I had never seen as a kid. Their motivations and problems all propelled the plot in a smooth and slightly whacky way that I hadn’t understood when I was younger, but I can appreciate now.

There’s minimal swearing in this movie, only violence for the sake of humor (no one gets killed or seriously injured), and practically no sexual content (there are moments when things that could be interpreted as sexual happen, but the movie’s innocence makes it pretty obvious that it’s not meant that way). I guess you could say I’ve rediscovered a clean gem.

I’ve always loved the male characters in this movie. They’re all quirky, hardworking, and very sweet to the other characters. However, as a kid, I had a much more strained relationship with the two main female characters (Dev Warren’s mom was cool though). I saw no depth in them and found their catty -and sometimes outright cruel- actions so frustrating. Now that I’m older, I was surprised to find the female characters just as endearing as the males. I finally understood the backstory of Katherine McLintock and found her to be much more complex than I had thought.

Besides her, now that I understand flirting a little better, I realized that Becky McLintock wasn’t bullying Dev for absolutely no reason, but was actually trying to catch his attention. The fact that she had grown up with her mom, who also liked to push-and-pull with her husband, added another realistic explanation behind her behavior. I wouldn’t recommend seducing a guy in this way, but it was incredibly amusing to watch and I found myself rooting for her and her oblivious target.

That wraps up “10 Clean Movies I Watched This Summer.” I was thinking about creating a second post like this to celebrate the start of the school year, so if you want more movie recommendations just let me know! The plan is for the next post (after the reggaeton one) to be about clean anime fanart you can use as wallpaper on your devices, for those of you interested. I thought it might be fun for upcoming posts to be surprises, but if you prefer knowing what the plan is you can also let me know about that. Until I get more feedback, I think I’ll just alternate between announcing the plan and not doing so.

If you want more clean content suggestions and this post isn't brand new, head over to the Gaming, YouTube, Kpop, Manga, Anime, Music, or Other (which will generally cover books/movies/fanfiction) sections of my blog.