Approved for All Ages

Norm of the North: King-Sized Adventure

An ancient Chinese artifact has been stolen by a villainous archaeologist named Dexter. With the help of his lemming friends, Norm must keep his word and embark on a journey across the world to help recover the artifact for the people of China.

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Negative Rating
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SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
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Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

A king keeps his word, no matter what. Sounds like a great vehicle to present the Gospel, doesn’t it?

Although Norm of the North: King-Sized Adventure is not a faith movie, its lesson about doing and meaning what you say is delivered in such a delightfully comic way that kids young and old can’t miss it. A talking polar bear named Norm, who has inherited an Arctic throne, finds himself with two pledges to honor in this third installment of the franchise—1) that he’ll be present to officiate the wedding of his grandfather, a former king, and his new bride, and 2) that he’ll make sure an ancient Chinese artifact is returned to the people of China.

There are any number of reasons why the slightly goofy, but always well-meaning Norm can fail. Chief among these is the villainous Dexter, who’s out to steal the artifact by any means necessary so that he can make a handsome profit selling it. But Norm keeps going, determined to keep his word to his own grandfather and to another grandfather, who wants the artifact to reach his professorial grandson back in Beijing.

Through plot twists that work only in the animated world, Norm and Dexter take turns chasing each other from the Arctic Circle to China and back. This movie is great P.R. for lemmings, because they come through in every situation. The movie also takes a dig at modern society, where people are so tied to their cellphones that they’ll answer even in the most awkward situations. Every time Norm finds himself in a precarious situation—which seems to be every five minutes—somebody is calling him on his cell. He must have the darnedest service because he answers everywhere.

The action is fast-paced and is certain to keep even a kid with a dwindling attention span engaged. Dancing animals—whales, seals, lemmings and lower-ranking polar bears—will keep them chuckling. The movie also represents one of the last efforts by Dean Stefan, better known for his work on Masters of the Universe vs. the Snake Men (2002), X-Men(1992) and Men in Black: The Series (1997). He died at age 65 in May 2018, not long after suffering a heart attack.

We all have to go sometime, and it’s to Stefan’s credit that he went out on a winning note. The movie merits the Dove-Approved Seal for All Ages.

Dove Rating Details

0
Faith

None

4
Integrity

Polar bear fights with komodo dragons; villain shoots gas eggs that explode and knock victims unconscious; villain throws lemmings.

0
Sex

Bear and wife kiss at their wedding.

0
Language

Polar bear is called an "ursine buffoon" (Ursine is to bears what equine is to horses); Another reference to "stupid bear"

1
Violence

Polar bear fights with komodo dragons; villain shoots gas eggs that explode and knock victims unconscious; villain throws lemmings.

0
Drugs

None

0
Nudity

Animals show a lot of fur.

1
Other

Lemmings suffer from flatulence and later from airsickness.

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