Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip

image for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip

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Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 7 (themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip
  • a review of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 8 April 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to themes.
Children aged 6–7 Parental guidance recommended due to themes.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 95 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Alexander (Thom Nemer) has always had bad luck. Always. When he discovers an ancient Mexican idol wrapped up in his great-grandfather’s trunk in the attic and hears about the curse associated with the old relic, his unfortunate streak begins to make sense. Learning that his travel writer mother Val Garcia (Eva Longoria) is about to take the family on a road trip to Mexico, Alexander begs her and his father Frank (Jesse Garcia) to reconsider, but all to no avail. When Alex spills his drink into the console of their top-of-the-line RV, the electronic system goes haywire and they crash into a giant alien statue, irreparably damaging the RV and decapitating the alien. The family is ready to pack it in and return home, when Alex and his sister Mia (Paulina Chavez) learn that the idol has somehow managed to follow them on the trip. This discovery is followed, moments later, by a phone call informing them that their father’s restaurant is closing down. Seeking advice from a roadside witchdoctor, the siblings learn that the only way to break the curse is to return the statue to its home. Forced to figure out another mode of transport, the family finds themselves in a rundown, skunk infested RV that winds up getting sucked down a river and lodged against rocks. When the borrowed third vehicle loses control and plummets over a cliff, nearly taking Mia and Alex with it, the family walks the rest of the way to the city of Soledad, building bonds, finding courage and ultimately discovering that, despite any curses, they each make their own luck.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Curses; Superstitions; Witches; Bad luck; Excessive worrying.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • An RV crashes into a huge cowboy alien sign, toppling the body and decapitating the head.
  • A man burns his cornfield to kill bugs but the fire rages out of control and burns down an entire town.
  • The family’s RV gets dragged down river and lodged against some rocks where water begins to fill it and the family must escape.
  • Alex falls against a brake shift and a van careens down a steep hill where it nearly takes Mia and Alex over a cliff before it bursts into flames. The monkey idol shoots through the sky in flames and lands at the family’s feet.
  • One character slaps another.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • The jade monkey idol seems sinister and scary. It terrifies Alexander and Mia and unnerves all of the adults.
  • Occasionally, there are flashes of what appear to be ancient witches, up close their faces all appear to be green.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Cheetos
  • Doritos.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A store owner asks Mia about the cute boy she’d like a love potion for.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Crappy
  • Rat
  • Jeez
  • Dummy.

In a nutshell

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip is a comedy adventure featuring a predictable plot and well-cast characters. It is a family film that is best suited to audiences aged 8 and over.

The main messages from this movie are that it’s important to appreciate the small moments, to find humour in frustrating situations and to remember that even the worst days can be blessings in disguise.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Empathy
  • Courage
  • Teamwork
  • Love
  • Resilience.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of believing in themselves and making smart choices, instead of worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong.