Hulu’s Darby and the Dead is a fun and breezy flick that will hit with the teen/tween crowd. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.
Hulu’s Darby and the Dead is dropping on the streaming service tomorrow, December 2nd. The film stars Riele Downs as Darby and Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) and centers around a teen who can see and speak to dead people. It’s a fun and entertaining film that’s geared toward the teen and pre-teen audience. Check out all the details in my parents guide movie review.
If you enjoyed this Darby and the Dead parents guide movie review, check out these articles: Lady Chatterley’s Lover parents guide movie review, Violent Night parents guide movie review, Disney+ Willow parents guide review, The Noel Diary parents guide movie review.
Darby and the Dead Quotes
Darby and the Dead Parents Guide
In Darby and the Dead: After suffering a near-death experience as a young girl, Darby Harper (Downs) gains the ability to see dead people. As a result, she becomes introverted and shut off from her high school peers and prefers to spend time counseling lonely spirits who have unfinished business on earth. But all that changes when Capri (Cravalho), the Queen Bee of the school’s most exclusive clique, unexpectedly dies in a freak hair straightening accident, resulting in the obvious cancellation of her upcoming “Sweet 17.” Capri, however, pleads with Darby from the other side to intervene and convince Capri’s friends to proceed with the party as planned. In order to appease the wrath of the undead diva, Darby must emerge from her self-imposed exile and reinvent herself — which along the way allows her to find new joy back in the land of the living.
Darby and the Dead Age Appropriate Parents Guide
Let’s take a look at what parents need to know before letting their kids watch Darby and the Dead.
Language: Darby and the Dead contain strong language, with profanity used throughout. Lookout words include: sh*t, a**, b*tch, d*mn, g-d d*mn, sl*t, crap, hell, sucks, and t*ts.
Mature Content: The film has a central theme revolving around death and scenes that show a near-death experience where a character drowns and is brought back to life. There is also a scene that shows a character dying by electrocution. The death of a parent is depicted in the film, which may be upsetting to some viewers. Themes of bullying are also shown in the film.
Overall Thoughts
The best part about Hulu’s new film, Darby and the Dead, are the performances given by lead actresses Riele Downs and Auli’i Cravalho. The chemistry and banter between Downs and Cravalho is natural and authentic, especially when they are at odds with one another. It makes for an entertaining watch and has audiences engaged by rallying behind each. The rest of the cast gave satisfactory performances but were often outshined by these two strong presences onscreen, except for Tony Danza, who plays a former coach at the high school who passed away years beforehand. Danza brings much of the heart to the film as his storyline revolves around him waiting for his wife to join him before he moves beyond the afterlife.
Hulu’s Darby and the Dead film itself doesn’t really bring any new or fresh concepts that viewers haven’t seen before. There is a girl who can see and speak with dead people, much like in films of the past like Ghost or The Sixth Sense, although this film is presented in a much lighter tone. There is an unpopular girl that is groomed to mix in with the popular crowd, much like the films Mean Girls or Clueless. The movie is predictable and follows the same, worn-out formula that audiences have seen time and time again. The premise is stale, yet, for those fans of the genre and the audience it is targeted for, it is an enjoyable watch. How much longer will mediocre movies be released to limited fanfare is beyond me. They can’t all be winners, but it has to be known from the outset that movies such as these barely move the needle north of merely being satisfactory.
