Movie Review: Unaccompanied Minors (2006) seen on DVD

Comedy; not recommended for young children; scenes depicting child abandonment

This movie follow a group of children ranging from school aged to teenagers who become trapped in an airport on Christmas Eve while trying to catch a flight to spend the holidays with their families after a blizzard breaks out which grounds all of the flights only for the power to go out in the airport. The children spend the night getting to know each other and causing mischief around the airport due to the setback.

I’ve only seen this movie once and it was long enough ago that I don’t remember what happens. However, in terms of what I don’t agree with where this movie is concerned, there is a lot to unpack. First of all, to me this movie exists because of the neglectfulness of some parents. What kind of parents would allow their small children to fly home on Christmas Eve with the threat of a blizzard and eventual power outage present? If those two things occurred, how would the children know what to do. These are problems that are hard enough to deal with for adults, (having flights delayed or cancelled all together due to bad weather, getting stuck at the airport if the power goes out,) ETC. I know that some of the children were teenagers but they’re still only kids themselves and they probably wouldn’t know what to do. Also I would think the airline would possibly deny boarding to a young child who was only accompanied by a teenager unless he/she was accompanied by a parent or guardian just on the very case something was to happen. I also have to call into question the decisions these parents made. I mean, clearly once the flights were grounded but even more so once the power in the airport went out, the parents should have thought to themselves, “Well maybe I should go and pick up my kids so they’re not stranded and alone.” Furthermore, I would think the airport security would have at least called the police who I’m sure would have sent as many cars as needed for the children to get them home safely if the parents didn’t have a car. Nothing like this happens in this movie, which would be the proper steps people should take to ensure the safety of the children under these circumstances, ones that would not exist if the parents weren’t so neglectful and don’t say to me, “Oh they’re really adults who are only playing children in the movie.” I don’t buy that crap. The fact is that little kids were stranded and it doesn’t matter to me if it’s just a movie. This movie is a prime example of bad parenting and people who should know what to do but don’t as it relates to the abandonment of kids. I know the parents finally do the right thing and show up at the end but let’s be honest, they should have been there a lot sooner, (perhaps even upon hearing about the flights being cancelled but especially if the power went out,) but then again, those parents had no business leaving their children alone in the first place. No precautions were taken at all where the parents of these kids were concerned nor was there any attempt by security to rectify the problem. If you ask me, these parents don’t deserve to be parents. As for this movie, well it wouldn’t even need to exist if there was no neglect on the parents part. My mother WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO ANY OF US. This just goes to show how much better my mother is than the parents in this movie. I’m sorry but this movie to me has no good quality or redeeming quality at all.

Movie rating: 0 out of 10

Next movie review TBD