ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY Movie Review

Ever had a day that wished you could start over?  The kind of day that Mercury decided to go way past retrograde to leaping out of the galaxy into an abyss of ridiculous mayhem that shattered the last shred of hope you held out for something in your day to go your way.  And not the way you could have only imagined in your worst-weird-sort-of-nightmare like the one where you have to give a speech to your respected peers only to realize you are buck naked…

Yeh, THAT kind of day.

Now take that day and multiply it by 100-kinds-of-funny and you have something close to what you’ll see in ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY!

When I watched a pre-screening of the movie, I had an inkling of what to expect.  In college, my media law professor was enchanted with the book and read it to us in class a few times.  Strange, maybe?  But a fun break from the grueling curriculum.

In any case, my familiarity with the book led me to expect to view a chaotic, humor-filled roller coaster ride of a film and that’s exactly what I got and then-some!  Hillarious and heart-warming from start to finish, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY will tickle your funny bone and leave you with that warm-squishy-huggy-feel-good feeling inside as we’ve come to expect from Disney family films.

ABOUT THE FILM: Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” follows the exploits of 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life—a day that begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by one calamity after another. But when Alexander tells his upbeat family about the misadventures of his disastrous day, he finds little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him. He soon learns that he’s not alone when his mom (Jennifer Garner), dad (Steve Carell), brother (Dylan Minnette) and sister (Kerris Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there is no such thing as a bad day just hasn’t had one. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” directed by Independent Spirit Award-winner Miguel Arteta (“The Good Girl,” “Cedar Rapids,” “Youth in Revolt”) from a screenplay by Rob Lieber, is a 21 Laps Entertainment/Jim Henson Company production. The film hits theaters nationwide Oct. 10, 2014.

If you want to have a terrific, hillarious, very good family movie night outing, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY should be on the top of your list!

One little caveat, though, this movie may not be suitable for the very little kiddos as there is some adult language and a bit of “reckless” behavior exhibited by some of the characters.  Hence the PG and not G rating.  It’s all in good fun and timed to elicit a laugh showing the consequences of the behavior, not eliciting or glamorizing it.  I feel it’s very kid friendly, but could provoke a healthy conversation or two after with impressionable little’uns.

Overall, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY is a rip-roaring fun roller-coaster ride of a film with tremendous heart and soul.  It’s made with the spirit and spunk that a great, memorable family-friendly movie should be!

To enhance your film fun, be sure to check out the ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY Activity Sheets at: https://ruralmom.com/2014/10/alexander-terrible-activity-coloring-sheets.html