THE UNBREAKABLE BOY

Name: THE UNBREAKABLE BOY
Item: THE UNBREAKABLE BOY
Author: Review

"One Boy’s Unbreakable Spirit Changes Everything"

Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

THE UNBREAKABLE BOY tells the true story of Austin, a boy who was born with brittle bones and autism. His family struggles to understand him, especially his father, Scott, who has an alcohol problem. The family undergoes trials and tribulations until the father strikes up a friendship with a preacher in Alcoholics Anonymous. The preacher encourages Scott to talk to God. Meanwhile, the mother, Teresa, who had a troubled life before she met Scott, regularly attends church with her two sons and prays to God. Also, Austin has a positive impact on everyone, including the other children at his school. Eventually, the father decides his son is perfect just the way he is.

THE UNBREAKABLE BOY is a heartwarming true story with a wonderful script and excellent performances. The movie has a strong Christian, uplifting worldview. It stresses family, kindness, faith, forgiveness, prayer, attending church, and redemption. However, there are many scenes involving alcohol abuse because the father struggles with stress and alcohol. UNBREAKABLE BOY also has some light foul language and a brief violent scene. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Content:

(CCC, BB, L, VV, AA, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian worldview promotes faith, family, kindness, forgiveness, prayer, attending church, embracing other people’s differences and recognizing it’s what makes them special, family attends church and are shown praying, father strikes up a meaningful relationship with preacher, preacher encourages father to talk to God, mother regularly attends church with sons and wants father to accompany them, one scene shows her praying in a hospital chapel, and father enters into Alcoholics Anonymous and says the Serenity Prayer in multiple scenes;

Foul Language:

Three obscenities, autistic boy says “poop” multiple times in two scenes, he also uses the word “retarded” in one scene, meant as an insult;

Violence:

Autistic boy throws a cup at mother, cutting her forehead, and then starts choking his brother;

Sex:

No sex, but a couple has a son out of wedlock;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

many scenes featuring Scott drinking heavily as he battles alcoholism, but he eventually gets sober and apologizes to Teresa for his behavior;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

many scenes feature Teresa and Scott arguing with each other over Austin, finances and his drinking. Scott tells Teresa he will stop drinking, but continues to drink in secret, father drives drunk in one scene with his sons in the car.

More Detail:

THE UNBREAKABLE BOY tells the true story of Austin, a boy born with osteogenesis imperfecta and autism, and how his sunny outlook on life changes those around him for the better. THE UNBREAKABLE BOY is a heartwarming true story with a wonderful script, excellent performances, a strong Christian, morally uplifting worldview stressing faith, prayer, forgiveness, redemption, attending church, and talking to God, but the father has an alcohol problem because of all the stress he encounters, so caution for older children is advised.

In THE UNBREAKABLE BOY, Austin tells viewers his story. His parents, Scott and Teresa, start dating, and soon she becomes pregnant. Although Scott wasn’t ready to be a father, he accepts the responsibility and prepares for the baby. Teresa reveals that she has osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), which means her bones are brittle and break easily. OI is genetic, but Scott tells her not to worry.

Austin is born and, although no one knows it yet, he has OI. It’s not until he’s a toddler that it’s discovered. He falls off a table and breaks his arm. The stress of keeping Austin from breaking bones creates tension between Scott and Teresa, which is increased when Scott finds out Teresa has been married twice before they met. He asks her to marry him. She initially says no but later accepts, and the two wed.

Life goes on for the family. They move into a bigger house. Teresa gives birth to another boy, Logan, who doesn’t have OI, and Austin continues breaking bones. Scott and Teresa also notice that he’s different from other kids, and a doctor confirms that Austin is also autistic.

None of this slows Austin down, though. He’s excited to start eighth grade and considers everyone he meets his friend. Scott and Teresa continue to fight about everything from Austin’s OI to Scott’s work hours. Things get worse when he loses his job. Teresa reveals they are way behind on bills, because she’s been prioritizing paying for Austin’s medical bills. So, the family is forced to move to a smaller house.

Scott’s alcohol intake increases during these stressful times, and Teresa tells him to stop drinking. He verbally agrees but secretly continues to drink. Meanwhile, Austin’s school moves him to special needs class, which leads to a violent outburst from Austin. He’s hospitalized for a psych evaluation, and Scott and Teresa feel powerless to help him.

Things start looking up for the family once Austin is released from the hospital, but on New Years Eve, Scott takes the boys to a party. He gets drunk and drives home. The next morning, Teresa kicks him out of the house, because he crashed the car into a tree in their front yard.

Scott starts attending AA meetings, while Teresa homeschools Austin because she doesn’t want him in special needs classes. Will the family be able to improve their lives?

THE UNBREAKABLE BOY is a heartwarming true story of one family’s journey to understanding the beauty in their son’s differences. For example, at one point Scott reflects on how he had spent so much time wondering how to “fix” Austin when, really, Austin was the one who “fixed” him. Lead actors Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy and Jacob Laval give excellent performances, and the script, adapted from a book of the same name, is wonderful.

THE UNBREAKABLE BOY has a strong Christian worldview. It promotes faith, family, kindness, forgiveness, and prayer. The movie stresses embracing others’ differences and recognizing it’s what makes us special. The family attends church and are shown praying. Also, the father, Scott, strikes up a meaningful relationship with their preacher, Rick. Rick encourages Scott to talk to God. However, there are many scenes involving alcohol abuse because of the father’s struggles with alcoholism. UNBREAKABLE BOY also has some light foul language and a brief violent scene. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.