Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this film introduces complicated scientific, political, and social issues (most prominently, the arguments surrounding global warming and environmental pollution), which will likely go over the heads of the youngest kids. While Al Gore explains his points with colorful graphics (cartoons, graphs, "nature" footage), the statistics and argument strategies may be boring for younger viewers, too. The movie includes images of the aftermath of Katrina, as well as references to other disasters (a 2003 European heat wave that left 35,000 dead). Animated sequences show mild violence (ozone-attacking sunbeams, a frog almost boiling, a weary polar bear unable to find solid ice on which to rest). It also includes sections on the death of Gore's sister from lung cancer (photos of her as he talks about missing her and the damage done by cigarette smoking) and on Gore's young son's near death in a car accident (viewers see no specifics, mostly haunting, empty hospital corridors and Gore looking sad).
Sexual
Content
Not applicable
Violence
Images of environmental devastation, including post-Katrina footage (bodies floating); heat-wave effects (mostly numbers of people who died in France, 2003); melting polar ice caps (a polar bear looks sad as it tries to find ice on which to rest but must keep swimming); an animated frog almost boils in a beaker; Gore discusses shooting his rifle as a boy; a flashback sequence shows Gore worried about his six-year-old son, who almost died in a car accident.
Language
One use of "damn."
Social
Behavior
Those who support Gore's argument -- that global warming is a result of past and current energy abuses -- will find the movie's position/information compelling, if somewhat grim.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Joke about an old classmate now being a "drug addict" (appears to be facetious); archival footage includes images of cigarettes being manufactured and ads where doctors endorse cigarettes; Gore discusses his family's roots in the tobacco industry (as farmers), his sister's smoking and her consequent death from lung cancer.
