Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile - Movie Content Review

 

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a movie filled with singing, dancing, friendship, and family.  When Josh finds the singing crocodile, Lyle, living in the attic of his new house, they quickly become best friends.  But Lyle must soon choose between show business with his old owner, Hector, or life with Josh's family. 

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Message

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile has a very pro-family message.  With the exception of lying about Lyle, Josh's family is a good role model for children.  They talk about their problems, enjoy doing things together, and have each other's best interests in mind.  They even welcome Lyle and Hector into their family.  

This is also tied in with a pro-friendship message.  It's made very clear that after his move Josh desperately wants to make a friend, and he quickly becomes best friends with Lyle.  Through the confidence Josh gets when befriending Lyle, he's also able to become friends with a girl at school.

At the end of the movie Josh and Hector break Lyle out of the zoo.  Then Josh and Lyle run away from the cops while Hector delays them.  During their escape, Josh and Lyle intentionally sneak into a building and onto a TV show.  Later they are in court and it's correctly pointed out that they want special treatment because Lyle can sing.  However, special treatment is exactly what happens, and Lyle is able to return to Josh's home.  There are no consequences for their actions at the zoo or with the police, which is troubling as it wrongly endorses the message that "the ends justify the means".

At the beginning of the movie Josh's mom has her family solely eating healthy food because she feels it is best for Josh.  Since she's a successful dessert cook book author, this is in direct conflict with how she has previously enjoyed making income.  Meanwhile, Lyle dumpster dives for his food and introduces Josh to these "non-healthy" foods he gets out of the dumpsters.  They later re-introduce Josh's mom to these foods (via the dumpster), and she ditches the healthy foods.  The healthy foods are shown as undesirable, while things like desserts are delicious.  Additionally, since the movie didn't present any health concerns associated with eating food out of a dumpster, parents will want to point those out.

Content

Language

There's a lot of singing and dancing in this movie; about as much as a Disney princess movie has.

There were a couple instances where the non-abbreviated "OMG" phrase was uttered.

There is no other swearing in this movie.

Fears

Lyle is a crocodile and whenever he first meets someone they are afraid; however, the movie does a good job at passing very little of that fear onto the viewer.  There's a lot of night time scenes, but it's never portrayed as scary.  The police raid Josh's house and capture Lyle at gunpoint.  Lyle and Josh navigate heights and roof edges without a concern; Josh slips once but is easily caught by Lyle.

There are no storms, fires, clowns, or strong villains.

Family & Relationships

Lyle is captured by the police and placed in a zoo.  There is a lot of dancing; it doesn't appear to be sexualized.  In one scene Josh is mildly bullied at his new school.

Josh sneaks out at night to hang out with Lyle.  Once his mom finds out about Lyle, they both sneak out at night behind his father's back.

The neighbor, Mr. Grumps, is inexplicably mean.  He's out to get Josh's family via the legal system, and he grumps at them every chance he gets.  While his grumping isn't inappropriate for a child to hear, there's a lot of it. 

Hector is a lovable, but flawed character.  He quickly becomes a friend of Josh's family, but eventually betrays them.  He also abandons Lyle in the beginning of the movie.

There is no divorce or running away.

Other Content

The only magic is Lyle's singing and personification.  Hector does many magic tricks, but it's implied that they're merely illusions and not magical powers. 

Mr. Grump's cat, who has befriended Lyle and Josh, has irritable bowl syndrome if it eats the wrong foods.  There's a couple jokes on this topic that are delivered with dry humor.

The movie may bring about a few brief moments of intense feelings for children.  They're mostly sad feelings due to Lyle's stage fright, but there's also a scene where Hector is almost eaten by regular crocodiles and a few positive scenes while Lyle is singing.

There's no strong violence, time travel, politics, evolution, LGBT, or religion.

Conclusion

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a movie with a lot of singing that kids will enjoy, has pro-family and pro-friendship messages, and most parents will find any negatives easily navigable.