Borrowers, The

MPAA Rating: PG

Entertainment: +3

Content: +2

A fantasy family of four-inch tall people called the "Borrowers" live within the walls of the Joe Lender house. The family secretly "borrows" all sorts of things from the Lender family including their food and other necessities. The family is headed by Mr. Clock (Jim Broadbent) who has a wife (Celia Imrie), a preteen son (Tom Felton) and a teenage daughter. The Lenders don't know about the Clock family, but the house owner's son accidentally becomes acquainted with Mr. Clock's daughter, Arrietty (Flora Newbigin) and they become friends. Unfortunately, the Lenders are being forced to move because a greedy lawyer, Ocious Potter (John Goodman), has managed to take possession of their house. The Clocks secretly pile into the moving van and go with the Lenders, but they also decide to make life miserable for Potter. But Potter retaliates and a whole series of confrontations develop between the diminutive Clock family and Potter. Their battles end up in a dairy bottling plant where Potter almost does away with the Clocks. Their confrontations are full of humor and fast paced action, and this clever fantasy adventure will be fun for the whole family.

The confrontations between Potter and the Clocks become rather intense at times. They stick pins in Potter's hand, spray toxic fluids on his face, cause him to be shocked by an electric current and call in a whole army of their fellow borrowers to tie him up with cords. Also, a bug exterminator accidentally sprays a thick toxic foam on Potter's face, and a huge glob of cheese material is dumped on him in the bottling plant. And Potter chases and threatens the Clocks with a hammer and a shaking machine, and tries to fill a bottle with milk in which one is trapped. Though this action is intense, it is done in a comical manner and doesn't seem excessive. Also encouraging, the film is virtually free of foul language and sexual content. Some crude humor is introduced when the word "pee" is used for urination and one of the boy lands in a pile of dung in the street. But overall, the plot and characters are decent and The Borrowers offers a wholesome movie outing for the family

Preview Reviewer: John Evans
Distributor:
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 93 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Once - Mild

Obscene Language: None

Profanity: Exclamatory - once (Good God)

Violence: Many times - Moderate (small people threatened by chases, falling ice cubes, vacuum cleaner, hammer, shaking machine, entrapment in bottles and wild bus ride. Man stuck by pin and small spear, toxic materials sprayed on face, cheese dumped on him, shocked with electrical current, and tied up with cords)

Sex: None

Nudity: None

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: None

Drugs: None

Other: 'Pee' used for urination(not crude), small boy falls in pile of dung on street, dog passes gas frequently

Running Time: 95 minutes
Intended Audience: Persons over 6 years of age


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