Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

Plugged In Movie Awards: Best Movie for Teens (2021)

PIMA Teen collage 2022

We continue our tour through our Plugged In Movie Awards nominees with our Best Movies for Teens category—which looks a little different this year.

Often, this is the place we typically feature the year’s biggest blockbusters: the action films, the sci-fi smashes, the PG-13 tentpoles that tend to dominate the summer. But with traffic to theaters still being pretty curtailed in 2021 due to COVID, we turned some of our attention to smaller movies that you might not have even heard of. (But we still get a superhero movie in there.)

Obviously, the movies we nominate here still can have problems. No movie is perfect. So be sure to check out or full reviews before you and your family watch. But if you have watched, we invite you to participate in this little exercise, too! Vote for your pick on Facebook or Instagram, or in the comments section below. Let us know which of our nominees is your favorite—and which ones you feel we overlooked. When we announce our winners, we’ll announce yours, too!

And just when will we announce said winners? In our March 24 podcast, where we’ll fight over our selections and make our choices as you listen. (We’ll publish a blog announcing the winners the following day, too.)

So read on; take stock of what we’ve nominated; and participate with us, will you? We hope you enjoy participating in this year’s edition of the Plugged In Movie Awards as much as we do. (Movie summaries are written by Paul Asay, Emily Clark, Adam Holz, Bob Hoose and Kennedy Unthank.)

American Underdog:

Quarterback Kurt Warner seemingly came out of nowhere to lead the St. Louis Rams to Super Bowl supremacy in January 2000. But the years leading up to that most unlikely underdog victory were fraught with trials, setbacks and roadblocks. American Underdog tells his story, chronicling the events and relationships that shaped Kurt’s character in the years before. Chief among them? His relationship with his future wife, Brenda, whose fierce love and support fuel Kurt’s seemingly impossible dream to become an NFL quarterback. Christian directors Andrew and Jon Erwin emphasize Kurt’s growing faith along the way. That said, they don’t shy away from gritty moments, either, in a story that emphasizes both pain and redemption en route to underdog glory.

Belle:

With a mix of old-school, hand-drawn anime and some sparkling CGI, director Mamoru Hosoda delivers an involving story about a young, emotionally wounded girl. Teen Suzu is drawn into a newly released virtual reality metaverse and takes on the persona of the beautiful Belle. This new perspective gives her a unique insight into who she is in the real world, and how she can be as vital and as brave as her mom—the loving parent she lost in an unfortunate accident. There’s definitely a sweet appeal to this anime film. It feels like an animated mix between the movies Ready Player One and Beauty and the Beast. Parents should note, however, that this film is aimed at a bit older crowd (with angsty subject matter, some light language and some pointed emotional anguish). But for teens and up this is a recommended visual treat.

Dear Evan Hansen:

In the big-screen adaptation of this smash Broadway musical, we meet Evan Hansen, an adolescent outcast whose crippling social anxiety makes his life miserable. As a part of his therapy, he writes letters of affirmation to himself. But when a school bully picks up one such letter off the printer at school, subsequently commits suicide and is found with the letter on him by his parents, life takes a strange turn for Evan. The parents of the boy believe their son wrote the letter to Evan. They mistakenly believe Evan was secretly their difficult son’s best friend. Evan tries to correct them, but he ends up playing along—opening up a world of new relationships to him that are, unfortunately, all based on a well-intended lie. A bit of language and references to suicide show up here. But for older teens, Dear Evan Hansen could potentially serve as a springboard to deeper conversations about identity, anxiety, mental health, suicide and friendship.

Finch:

Finch Weinberg is dying. And given that pert near the rest of humanity expired some time ago, that puts the former engineer in a pickle: Who’s going to take care of his dog? Finch decides to fix the issue by building a robot—the most sophisticated and intelligent robot the world has ever seen. But in so doing, he also creates a sentient something that needs to be taught what’s right and wrong, how to navigate basic emotions, even how to grieve. Finch is teaching his robot, Jeff, how to be human. And in the process, the film might teach us a little about what it means to be human—a good human—too. This Apple TV+ film features Tom Hanks and … well, his robot and dog. Nothing else distracts from the story, and that includes most forms of problematic content we normally tabulate here. It’s a sweet story about the end—the end of life, the end of the world. But it reminds us that every end comes with a new beginning if we just know how to approach it.

Spider-Man: No Way Home:

This next chapter in Peter Parker’s life begins where 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home left off. Peter’s secret identity has been revealed, and everybody falsely blames him for some terrible crimes. That makes life impossible for Peter and his friends. So he begs Doctor Strange to magically wipe the world’s memory clean. But spells don’t always go the way you hope, and this one starts yanking in bad guys from various Spider-Man universes. What’s a friendly neighborhood teen wall-crawler gonna do? This latest Spidey pic is a web-blasting joy. There’s definitely an ample slice of superhero thumping, a dash of sensual stuff and that sticky spellcasting in the mix. But this entry delivers lessons about love, sacrifice and second chances along with enough fan service to satisfy even the pickiest Spider-Man devotee.

You can also vote in these categories: Best Movie for Kids, Best Movie for Adults, and Best Christian Movie. Voting ends March 11!

kennedy-unthank
Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He doesn’t think the ending of Lost was “that bad.”

adam-holz
Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

Bob Hoose

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

paul-asay
Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Emily Tsiao

Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.

9 Responses

  1. -Well, I haven’t seen any of these yet, but Belle is the one that appeals the most to me. I don’t know if this vote will be applicable or not, but Belle is my vote.

  2. -Spider-Man: No Way Home was one of the most refreshing pieces of cinema I have seen in ages.
    It had WEIGHT. It was emotional, but not just sad.
    It was just plain amazing, spectacular even.

  3. -My vote is going to be a write-in for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. An incredibly well crafted film that should have been released in theaters back in 2017.

    I wanted to see American Underdog (I love Zachary Levi) but I just never got around to it. Hoping to fix that once it’s out on Blu-Ray.

    1. -Yep. I adored the Snyder Cut despite never seeing the original film, and my heart breaks every time I think about Snyder’s family situation (the dedication at the end of Justice League was so beautiful). It’s not often I watch four-hour films that aren’t Return of the King, and it’s definitely not often where I think those films use all of their time well, but Justice League did, tremendously.

      I did love most of No Way Home up until the ending. It did do a great job with its performances, but I really think that ending undercut a lot of the point of the story’s own sacrifices.

  4. -The only four hour movie I’ve seen is Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet and it’s the second best movie I’ve ever seen in my life, only there will be blood surpasses it. Other films I’ve seen that were almost four hours but not quite are the ten commandments and Ben Hur, and out of those only the ten commandments is truly outstanding. Ben Hur has its moments, but the only character I truly loved in the film was Jesus, and the only scenes I truly loved were his birth sermon on the mount and crucifixion scenes.

  5. -Saw the new seat Spider-Man one and have to say thought wasn’t too bad. Personally toby Maguire will always be my favorite Spider-Man but the Tom holland isn’t too bad. The belle one sounds good and am definitely interested in the underdog one…

  6. -I really really loved both Dear Evan Hansen and Spider-Man: No Way Home, but for a lasting impact on my life I have to say the message of Dear Evan Hansen is the best: You will be found. I struggle with a lot of the things presented in that movie, as many young people do, and found it relatable while offering hope.