Brilliant movie! It was ten times better than the first one! Totally exhilarating and half the time you were crying and the other you were on the edge of your seat. Verdict for parents: it has tons of good messages, families can talk about war and doing what’s right.

This is a review from a 13-year-old of one of the most popular films of today. It seems to satisfy everything that a teenager wants from a film; excitement, emotion, science-fiction, and a heroine rather than a hero! However, the story of The Hunger Games isn’t about love, it’s about war. This raises a lot of important questions and some parents are not sure if it is the right kind of film for their children to watch.
It is certainly a long way from High School films, with teenagers falling innocently in love, singing and dancing their way to a happy ending. Teenagers today want something more challenging, and they know that not every story has a happy ending. The Hunger Games films contain a lot of violence and this one has clouds of poison, attacks by man-eating monkeys that might give some teenagers nightmares, and quite a lot of blood.
The review above talks of the good messages that the film contains. One of them is, of course, helping your friends to come through the Games. They are fighting for survival against a totalitarian government and can’t escape their fate. This can be a good starting point for parents and children to talk about the rights and wrongs of war.
The film ends with Katniss Everdeen, the heroine, played by Jennifer Lawrence, preparing with other characters for rebellion against the government. Will they succeed? If you have read the book, you will know. If not, wait for the next film in the trilogy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay! It will be made in two parts, so there is still a lot of excitement to come for teenagers who are ‘hungry’ to see it!