No More Baths

Reviewed by: Scott Bryce
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating:	Good
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Family
Genre:	Drama
Length:	1 hr. 33 min.
Year of Release:	1998
USA Release:

Featuring
Director
Producer	Feature Films for Families
Distributor

A greedy developer arranges to have the elderly Jake evicted from his run down home in an effort to increase the property values of the neighboring lots. The local kids, in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., decide to protest by refusing to take baths until Jake is allowed back into his home.

Image from No More Baths This video should have been a heart warming story about valuing people more than money, but it falls flat on its face. With the exception of Jake’s part, the acting isn’t strong enough to rescue the poorly written script. After an intriguing opening scene, the story moves slowly. By the time the story is fully developed, there have been so many problems in the story line that the courtroom scene at the end of the video is less than climactic.

The story is written for a young audience, but it makes the mistake of talking down to them at their level, rather than drawing them up to a more mature level as good children’s literature should. After previewing the video, I decided not to let my children see it. They have more productive ways to waste their time.

My wife and I LOVE this video. We saw it on the big-screen with a friend and our families and we all thought it was great! While it might not have the best acting, the teaching makes up for any missing special effects, etc. The movie teaches great values of friendship and commitment, as well as the evil of loving money. The good triumphs in this movie so that even the “bad-guy” is won over. We liked this so much that we did something unusual for us—we bought the video. My Ratings: [5/3]

Brian Eschner, age 39

Because of the fact that clean, unoffensive movies are hard to come by these days, I appreciated this movie. It is a movie that your whole family can see without you having to close ears or eyes. To stand up for something that is morally right is a good teaching for all of us. May we as Christians do the same when we see the need. My Ratings: [4/3]

Mindy Adams, age 34