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henry danger movie

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Paul Asay
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Movie Review

For years, Kid Danger kept the town of Swellview out of, well, danger.

He didn’t do it alone, of course. As chronicled over the five-season Nickelodeon show Henry Danger, Kid served as the trusty sidekick to Captain Man, paragon of truth, justice and the Swellview way. Sure, the masked duo violated the laws of physics and child-labor codes along the way, but they didn’t mind. And neither did Swellview.

But all that derring-do eventually caught up to Danger. In 2020, he took control of an evil blimp (or, at least a blimp designed for evil things) and steered it straight into a mountain, saving Swellville once again—but perishing in the process.

Or so Swellville thought!

In truth, Kid Danger (in reality mild-mannered teen Henry Hart) was just sick of Swellville and sick of living in Captain Man’s manly shadow. Captain Man encouraged him to find his own city to save, and so he did—landing with his best pal, Jasper, in the teeming metropolis of Dystopia. And things couldn’t be better.

Yes sir! Henry loves being the city’s headlining hero. He loves everything about it, from posing for pictures with his fans to his booming social media presence to the lucrative endorsement deals. Sure, the crime-fighting side of things can get a little monotonous: Only so many ways one can punch a baddie into a building, after all. But the fame makes it all worth it. Yep, leaving Swellville was the best thing ever.

Now, if only Jasper would leave, too.

Oh, Henry doesn’t have anything against Jasper. I mean, they’ve been friends for, like, ever. And Jasper’s super abilities (fighting bad guys and speaking Spanish while sleeping) have their uses. But honestly, the spotlight’s only so big. The endorsement gigs all want Henry, not Jasper. Maybe it’s time that the two go their separate ways: Henry can go right on superhero-ing and Jasper can … well, who cares what Jasper does? But Henry’s sure his soon-to-be former sidekick will land on his feet somewhere.

But then, while fighting his shadowy nemesis Blackout, Henry is kidnapped.

Yes, he’s literally ’napped by a kid, thanks to a very mysterious gizmo the kid (12-year-old Misty Martin) stole for that very purpose. RAD was the gizmo’s name, and mischief was its game: In a flash of light, Henry is magically transported to Misty’s hometown of Newtown.

Seems that Newtown is in need of a hero. And Misty—just about the biggest Kid Danger fan ever—thought he’d be perfect for the job. After, y’know, RAD brings him back from the dead following his blimp accident.

But wait! Things are not so simple, it would seem. RAD isn’t merely a hero-resurrecting-and-transporting machine. Misty apparently fed all her Kid Danger fan fiction into the machine. And now, thanks to reasons far too complex to detail in this already overlong introduction, RAD can only zap Henry and Misty into one of Misty’s stories. At random.

Well, isn’t that a fine howdy-do? How is Henry going to get back to Dystopia and his endorsement deals now?


Positive Elements

So, maybe Henry lost his way a little bit. He’s happy to fight bad guys—if the stage is big and the perks are right. Newtown? A little too small town for this big superhero.

But Misty reminds Henry of his superhero duties. “A superhero always answers the call,” she says—quoting Kid Danger directly. He sighs and, ultimately, answers every call this movie throws at him.

He also realizes that he was being a bit of a jerk to Jasper, who continues to serve as Henry’s most loyal companion. Again, we have Misty to thank: “All he seems to do is save your life over and over again,” she tells Henry, “but you’re just too busy and famous to be friends with him?” In at least one of Misty’s fan-fic stories, she made Jasper the hero and Henry the sidekick—an illuminating turn of events for the one-time Kid Danger. Henry realizes, belatedly, that he could’ve been a bit more appreciative of Jasper all these years.

As you might expect, Henry, Misty, Jasper and others spend a lot of time battling evildoers and malcontents.

Spiritual Elements

When Misty first yanks Henry to Newtown, he wakes up and wonders whether he’s in heaven. Then, when he looks at Misty’s bedroom décor, he decides he must be in the other place.

One of Misty’s fan-fic creations depicts Piper, Henry’s sister, as an electricity-wielding vampire. She proves to be one of Henry’s most fearsome adversaries: She bites a couple of characters (who, of course, then become vampires themselves), and she sometimes moves from place to place by transforming into a cloud of bats. A couple of mythical animals also make cameos in the film.

We briefly see a Chinese yin-yang symbol, which represents two opposing forces in perfect equilibrium.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Frankini, a regular antagonist on the old Henry Danger show, serves as an ancillary character here. He’s extravagantly effeminate, wearing over-the-top makeup and little stick-on jewels on his face. In one animated sequence, he transforms into a “uni-cow” with a rainbow-colored horn. And when Misty describes one of her darker fan-fic locales—a place she calls the “Gray Zone,”—Frankini mishears her. “Honey, I was born in the—” he begins, before Henry stresses that it’s the Gray Zone.

Jasper has a thing for a female detective back in Dystopia, and he awkwardly flirts with her. (Piper, who’s not a vampire in this world, tells her flat-out that Jasper is “into you.”)

Henry appreciates the adulation of Dystopia’s female population. Misty has tons of pictures of Kid Danger in her room—but she seems to like him far more because he’s a hero than because he’s handsome.

As Henry groggily wakes up after being zapped by the RAD, he mutters, as if in a dream, “Ray, she’s my mom. I can’t set you up.” When Misty suggests that she and Henry team up, Henry says, “Look, I just got out of a crime-fighting relationship.”

Violent Content

This comical superhero story features tons of violence (and a few references to meeting a violent end), but no one ever seems seriously hurt. Even when a few arrows land in Jasper’s back, they seem more of an annoyance than anything.

Blackout is perhaps Henry’s most fearsome opponent—throwing the hero out a very high window before Misty zaps him into Newtown. Henry also slugs Blackout into a skyscraper, too, but Blackout soon bounces back. (He’s not immune from the damage, though. After one melee, he announces, “Ironically, I’m about to black out!”) Henry et al. also must deal with a sadistic middle school coach; a cadre of vampires; and pancake-toting, syrup-deprived Canadian Mounties. These heroes and villains cause plenty of mayhem involving punches, kicks and thrown bodies. One fight is terminated by several punches to several crotches, leading to a great deal of comical pain.

When Misty steals the RAD machine (from Evil Science Corp.), she performs a number of violent martial-arts moves to procure the gadget and make her getaway. Elsewhere, someone gets hit with a huge lollipop. The evil coach likes to force people to do pushups. People are knocked out via blows to the head. Someone’s thrown out of a truck.

Crude or Profane Language

When Jasper’s in his sleep-fighting-and-Spanish-speaking mode, he uses the word “guey,” which means “dude.” Henry clearly doesn’t understand Spanish: “Watch your language!” he says. “There are kids around!”

Well, the movie itself could’ve ton a better job of watching its own language. We hear about a dozen misuses of God’s name and one use of the British profanity “bloody.” The film gives us a smattering of winking references to profanity (“what the …,” “son of a bus driver!”), and rude names are tossed around.

Drug & Alcohol Content

A bustling (and pretty innocent-looking) nightclub includes some patrons holding beverages. Frankini apparently has a drink named after him, called the “Frankini-tini.” Misty admits that one of her fan-fic stories was done under the lingering influence of a dentist’s medication.

Other Noteworthy Elements

The biggest issues that we’d mention here we’ve already covered—at least briefly. Henry misleads the citizens of Swellville so he can leave in peace for Dystopia—which Misty calls him on. But Misty steals the device that sets the whole story in motion. Blackout is definitely interested in swiping a batch of plutonium (which’ll send the nuclear-dependent city into, you guessed it, a blackout). We hear some wickedly bad puns. We also hear that Misty’s little sister used her mom’s lipstick on the family dog.

Conclusion

Henry Danger: The Movie is a made-for-streaming flick, and it feels like it. Its production values are relatively low, its jokes rather familiar. It hints at perhaps a new Henry Danger-themed show in the future. Misty calls herself “Super Fan,” and most of the folks who wind up watching this likely qualify as Henry Danger superfans themselves. This doesn’t require encyclopedic knowledge of the original light sci-fi sitcom—but it sure doesn’t hurt.

What may hurt, though? The content.

Henry Danger: The Movie seems, at first blush, rather innocuous. And on many levels, it is. Certainly, it’s designed for kids. But it’s designed for kids with very modern, and secular, sensibilities: The ease with which it misuses God’s name and flaunts a certain fluid sense of sexuality feels proof of that. It finds punches to the groin hilarious. It relishes in wink-wink nods to R-rated movie franchises.

Henry Danger: The Movie is both clever and crass—and for those unfamiliar with the original show, the latter may be a deal-killer.


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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.

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