The New Mutants movie review

MOVIE TITLE: THE NEW MUTANTS

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour, 34 minutes (This is the shortest film in the X-Men series)

Movie Review Mom GRADE: C-

IN A NUTSHELL:

Marvel really waivers with this one, despite bringing us some incredible films in recent years. This one is a mix of coming-of-age superheroes with horror. Directed and written by Josh Boone, this sci-fi thriller features young stars: Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones: The Complete Seasons 1-8 (Collectors Edition) [Blu-ray], Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton. Josh Boone is a big-time X-Men fan who owns a lot of their comics.

It was going to be released way back in 2018, but due to reshoots, corporate shuffling, and the pandemic, it finally hit streaming and some theaters this week. Inspired by the successes of recent horror films like It (2017) and Get Out (2017), the studio reworked the movie to make it scarier. The intention is that this will be the first in a horror trilogy.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Lesbians kiss several times. Other teens kiss.
Profanity: 1 F-word, 6 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling, 2 religious exclamations
Some scary moments and creatures that could frighten young children, although older teens don’t think it’s scary enough to be categorized in the horror genre.
Violence
Explosions and destruction
Bullying
You see a naked teen from the front but his private parts are covered by a plank of wood.
One teen says he hopes another teen is a “nympho.”
You see two girls in a shower from the shoulders up.

THEMES:

Confronting your personal fears
Teamwork
Finding your inner strength
Courage
Friendship
Control
We’ve heard that story about the good/evil bear before in a movie, but it was a wolf in the other version. It’s a good lesson to remember.

THINGS I LIKED:

I’m impressed with Anya Taylor-Joy who is such a versatile actress. I loved her in the newest version of Emma. (2020).
Because the movie is such a slow burn, you get to know the characters fairly well.
It definitely feels different than all other superhero movies. Audiences aren’t certain if that’s good or bad.
Some of the CGI is pretty good, although it’s also noticeable bad at times.
A couple of lines made me laugh out loud. They were meant to be funny, but this is definitely not a light-hearted Marvel movie like Thor: Ragnarok (Theatrical Version) or Guardians of the Galaxy (Theatrical)

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The first scene starts with a bang but happens at night and is so dark that it will be extremely difficult to see what’s happening when you watch it on a small device on streaming.
Some of the characters’ accents faded in and out.
You learn about the cliched characters but you don’t really like them or care much about them.
So much brooding teenage drama and angst.
It’s very slow-moving. Some call that boring. The big battle doesn’t happen until the very end of the film.
The dragon creature was awesome. What a shame we didn’t get to see it in action until the last 10 minutes of the movie.
The screaming just sounded like actors screaming. There was something really inauthentic about it.
Pretty predictable.

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