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The Magic of Belle Isle | 2012 | PG | - 1.3.2

When a wheelchair-bound author (Morgan Freeman) goes to an island to escape his writer's block, he finds more than a story in the family that lives next door. Also with Virginia Madsen, Madeline Carroll and Emma Fuhrmann. Directed by Rob Reiner. [1:49]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - An older man imagines himself dancing with a woman and then kissing her.
 A man makes a crude remark about never letting a woman leave the bed. An older man makes a remark to a dog as it licks itself, saying that night "really puts him in the mood." A mentally handicapped young man tells an older man "sometimes I want to pull my pants down" and the older man says he does too. An older man has a one-sided discussion with a dog, telling the dog that he "cannot alleviate" any female dogs in heat. A man remarks to an older man that he was surprised the man never "got with" a woman. A man comments to his older uncle that it is not often that they see attractive women on rooftops.
 We briefly see an older man in bed and it appears that he is shirtless (no nudity is visible). A young girl is briefly seen wearing a swimsuit.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - We see a man being loaded into the back of an ambulance and carried away by EMTs, and we overhear an older man remark that the person was killed during exercise; we later hear that there's a memorial for the man.
 An older man fires a pistol into the air and then holds another man dressed as a clown at gunpoint while telling the man to apologize for yelling at a girl; the man runs away and we later hear a girl joyfully tell her mother that the older man "shot" a man.
 A mentally handicapped young man falls off a tire swing and struggles in the water, shouting that he is drowning; a teen girl tells the young man to stand up and he stands up unharmed.
 An older man angrily remarks to his adult nephew that his nephew will find him, "dead by his own hand," with a revolver by his side. A woman shouts at her daughters to "remain calm in a crisis" as she hoses down a house to protect it from a fire. A man shouts angrily at a girl after she accidentally pops a bouncy castle with a wooden spear. A man shouts angrily at a mentally handicapped young man. A teen girl screams when she is awoken by a dog licking her feet. We hear an older man shouting angrily on multiple occasions. A girl throws a bowl of water on her teen sister, and the teen girl shouts at the girl saying that she would "kill her" if the girl ruined her cell phone. A girl shouts at an older man, accusing him of lying about his ability to write a story. A girl holding a wooden spear lunges toward a woman and the woman tells the girl to be careful, saying that she does not want any "one eyed daughters." An older man says that people that use cell phones in public should be "shot dead." An older man tells a girl that a drunk driver had caused a car accident that resulted in him being paralyzed at the age of 25. An older man makes a joke that an entire island is burning down. A man tells his older uncle that the older man's wife had died of cancer and that she hadn't abandoned him. A girl asks an older man if he had an injury, causing him to be in a wheelchair; the older man tells a girl that he is trying to sue an insurance company, feigning an injury, and the older man reveals that he was lying about being able to walk. A man discusses the plot of a story with an older man (the author), and the older man remarks that "many men cross his path but few live to tell about it." An older man tells a woman and her three young daughters the plot of a story where a man is killed and his mother is almost decapitated.
 A girl tells her younger sister that an older man likes to chew on spiders so he can vomit and she then adds that the man also eats rats and that she had seen him vomit; the girl warns her younger sister that the man likes to lick little girl's feet and will bite off her toes if she shouts.

LANGUAGE 2 - 2 scatological terms (1 mild), 2 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for the mentally handicapped, name-calling (freak, fat kid, liar, spoiled little brat, a drunk, crazy, total jerk, jerk), 5 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - An older man drinks liquor and beer frequently throughout the movie, men and women drink beer and wine at a celebration, a man hands his older uncle a bottle of liquor and the older man remarks that he cannot drink straight from the bottle or he will consider himself a "lost cause," an older man says that "I need a drink," an older man repeatedly talks about drinking and he tells a girl that he is "a drunk," an older man returns a case of liquor to a store and says that he is changing his ways.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Overcoming adversity, writer's block, forgiveness, alcoholism, divorce of parents, suicide, imagination.

MESSAGE - Imagination is very important.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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