The Pursuit of Happyness



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		The Pursuit of Happyness

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		On DVD Now Best For Tweens (10-12) Rated PG
		Life Lessons

		After his wife leaves, a struggling salesman Chris Gardner (Will Smith) tries desperately to make ends meet for himself and his 5-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith). "Maybe we can never have happiness; we can just pursue it," muses Gardner before taking the audience along on his harrowing odyssey from homelessness to hero. Based on a true story, this inspiring tearjerker of a movie has much to teach viewers about hope, persistence, and rising above one's circumstances. With Smith's real son playing Christopher, the father-child love story packs an even more powerful emotional wallop and proves that--throughout the journey from rags to riches--the real riches were there all along.


	This movie is intended for older children.


	This movie is intended for older children.

The movie is long--and stressful to watch--and younger kids may not have the patience to follow the Gardners' struggle. They may be fascinated by the Rubik's Cube, which also has a starring role in the movie, but probably won't have the patience to follow their own struggle with that either! Older kids--who just may get caught up in this against-all-odds story--may stop taking for granted all the good things with which they've been blessed after watching Gardner and his son forced to sleep on the floor of a subway station bathroom.

This is an important movie for tweens, who will see firsthand that people don't have to keep the hand they're dealt in life and that there are constructive options to poverty rather than crime or drugs. They'll have to believe the truth of Gardner's words to his son: "Don't ever let someone tell you you can't do something. You want something, go get it. Period." After they see how he doesn't let anything stop him from his dream of a better life for the two of them.

--Lois Alter Mark, the Flicks for Kids Expert



		Insightful segments on the making of the movie, the real Chris Gardner, the Rubik's Cube phenomenon, and the special on-screen and offscreen relationship between Will Smith and his co-star son, Jaden.



			Movie Pluses
		Empowers viewers Focuses on the often-overlooked father/son bond Proves the importance of determination and never giving up

			Movie Minuses
		Profanity Christopher's mother abandons him