Is Age of Adaline kid appropriate?

A life with no grey hairs, no wrinkles on your face and remaining 29 years of age for decades sounds wonderful, however it wasn’t for Adeline Bowman (Blake Lively). In 1935 Adaline was in a car crash and ended up immersed in a freezing river and her heart stopped. However, shortly after the accident she was struck by a bolt of lightning and miraculously became, “immune to the ravages of time.” Moving every decade and changing her identity lead to a sad and lonely life, however things dramatically changed the day she met Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman). A handsome philanthropist and a man who changed Adaline’s life forever.

Talking Points:

• The film highlights the fact that not growing old with your loved ones would be a very lonely life. As one character says, “For all those years you’ve lived, you’ve never had a life.”
• The movie is very predicable and somewhat slow in parts.

Sexual Content: Mild

• Adaline and Ellis passionately kiss several times throughout the film.
• We see Adaline and Ellis in bed together (covered by a sheet).
• When Ellis steps out the shower we see him wrapped in a towel.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Mild

• We see two car crashes. In the first one (described in the synopsis) Adaline drowns in a freezing lake before she’s shocked by a bolt of lightning. In the second accident a character is shown bleeding by the side of the road, though shocked back to life.
• Adaline cut her hand, we see the bleeding wound getting stitched up.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

• We hear “sh-t,” “h—,” and “d–n.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• We see character’s drinking hard liquor at parties.
• In a flashback scene, character’s are shown smoking.

Will Most Teens Like It? No

• As I previously mentioned the film is slow in parts. I interviewed some pre-teen girls after the movie who said liked the main characters, though they thought the film was slow and boring.

Overall this is an appropriate romantic love story. However with the mature subject matter kids and teens may not enjoy the film.

A young woman, born at the turn of the 20th century, is rendered ageless after an accident. After many solitary years, she meets a man who complicates the eternal life she has settled into. (from IMDB)

I must confess I'm a bit of a romantic. I'm a sucker for a good romantic story or romantic comedy, but I also hate romantic stories that aren't told very well (or put a main character through the ringer for the entire film). When I first saw a preview for The Age of Adaline, my interest was piqued--and not just because it stars one of my favorite actors, Harrison Ford. Movies like Serendipity, The Lakehouse, even Kate & Leopold are often viewed as mushy or sentimental, but there's something about the whimsical nature of these films, their direction, and/or their cast that I tend to have a real soft spot for. The Age of Adaline was directed by indie director Lee Toland Krieger who approached the film with great attention to detail and a truly impressive cinematic beauty. Krieger's execution of the story alone elevates the film to the next level.

Rob Simonsen's dreamy score adds to the mystery, tenderness and elegance of the film, while cinematographer David Lanzenberg really makes the film gorgeous to look at. While stories like this tend to have the male leads feel a little too one-dimensional or paperthin (more like a prop or plot device than a real person)--and, if I'm being honest, Ellis does teeter on the edge of that a little bit--I thought Huisman did a good job, and was a worthy enough foil for Adaline's resolve to stay single and alone. Harrison Ford, who doesn't seem to get that many worthwhile roles anymore (which clearly changes this December), is actually fantastic as William. He seems to channel all the right emotions for his character and play up the desperation just right. I think he brought a lot to the role and the film and was simply perfect.

The Age of Adaline is a beautifully shot and presented romantic drama that takes viewers through ten decades of American history, giving us a love story for the ages. Some viewers won't like the narrator aspects that pop up at the beginning and end, and some story elements are a tad predictable (yet forgivably so), but The Age of Adaline is a cut above many other romantic efforts in recent years, and offers a bit of a classic cinematic feel in the process. Romance fans will especially enjoy this one.

Blu-Ray Special Features Review

Style Throughout The Ages (18:19) - This featurette focuses on the clothing of the different decades and what that means for the character of Adaline. We also see concept art and photography for Adaline/Blake through the various time periods.

Discovering Young Harrison Ford: Anthony Ingruber, A YouTube Sensation (8:19) - I was impressed by the young guy they found to represent a young Harrison Ford in the movie. The crew reveal here that they actually found Australian actor Anthony Ingruber on YouTube and hired him immediately. Ingruber talks about being a huge Harrison Ford fan and having worked on his impression of him extensively. Harrison approved of their choice in Anthony and even calls him a "miracle" find.

Deleted Scenes (4:30) - There are about two deleted sequences lumped together here. The first shows police officers invading Adaline's apartment in search for an apparent gas leak. Adaline awkwardly keeps one occupied while others investigate in the kitchen. During this, the cop spots a photo of her from the 30s or 40s and her mulitple ID cards and cash just laying out on the table. She tries to distract him and they eventually discover the gas leak is not in this apartment and they leave. The second scene has Adaline getting a phone call at work about her elderly daughter, Flemming, so she goes to visit her. She then tries to get Flemming to talk about what the problem is, and she expresses that she had a "senior moment" and panicked about having briefly forgotten where she was for a second. Both scenes aren't necessary--and the first one seems a little hokey with her having left important papers and such out in the open for just anyone to find (and for someone on the run, that seems overly careless)--but it's cool to have them as a bonus on the disc here.

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