What to watch with your kids: ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’ and more

Barbie: A Touch of Magic (TV-Y7)

Enchanting series about a Pegasus; lots of product placement.

“Barbie: A Touch of Magic” is a TV series based on classic Mattel characters. It follows Barbie “Malibu” Roberts (voiced by America Young) and Barbie “Brooklyn” Roberts (Tatiana Varria) as they try to get their Pegasus friend, Peggy, back to her magical home. Each 23-minute episode explores a new part of the friends’ adventure. Malibu Barbie and Brooklyn Barbie are best friends who depend on communication skills, teamwork and fun to achieve their goals. The show includes some reckless teen behavior, including a car chase and hiding a Pegasus from their parents. Mattel created an accompanying Touch of Magic toy line that’s featured throughout the show. (13 22-minute episodes)

Spy Kids: Armageddon (PG)

Video-game-inspired sequel has kids in peril, violence.

“Spy Kids: Armageddon” is part of the kid-friendly Spy Kids franchise and features some positive messages despite its action violence. These come mostly through Patty (Everly Carganilla), the daughter of the Latino family that’s at the heart of the series. She gives her brother (Connor Esterson) and parents (Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi) a lesson in integrity by showing them that playing fair, being honest and treating others kindly will always bring better results than lying, cheating or opting for unnecessary violence — and could even bring peace and harmony to the world. Violence is pretty constant, but while kids are often participants and sometimes victims, the villains are cartoonish characters from a video game world, and it’s clear that the central family will be fine in the end. Still, young children do find themselves in all kinds of potentially fatal situations, and kids and parents have to watch one another get hurt or be put in danger. This could prove intense for very young or sensitive viewers. Expect falls, sword fights, slaps, chases, crashes or near-crashes, apparent electrocutions, hackings, threatening creatures, and more. Kids also outsmart their parents and sometimes lie to or disobey them. (97 minutes)

A Million Miles Away (PG)

Positive messages in migrant-turned-astronaut underdog tale.

“A Million Miles Away,” based on the autobiography of José M. Hernández, is the story of a Mexican migrant worker who became an astronaut. It depicts a family achieving the so-called American Dream. The main character — played as an adult by Michael Peña — demonstrates tenacity and perseverance in his work ethic, not giving up in the face of rejection and humility in managing discriminatory behavior from people around him and remembering his roots. His close-knit extended Mexican family makes sacrifices to support him. He goes from trying to hide his culture — adapting White music and eating sandwiches rather than enchiladas at work — to being proud of what he represents as a person of color and migrant worker going into space. He helps his wife open a Mexican restaurant and works there in his spare time. Mexican children who help their parents work the fields in the United States fall asleep in school, get teased, miss out on classes and have bandages on their fingers. A beloved relative is killed, and a shootout is mentioned. A space shuttle explodes on launch, killing all those on board. Astronaut training includes some scary situations, mostly underwater. Adults drink beer and tequila regularly, and there’s some flirting and kissing. (121 minutes)

Available on Prime Video.

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (PG-13)

Book-based coming-of-age tale has language, crude humor.

“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” is a Jewish tween tale with language and some mature themes. Among those themes are crushes and first kisses, as well as middle school friend groups and betrayal and the importance of the coming-of-age ritual of the bar and bat mitzvah in the Jewish community. There’s drinking at a party, kissing and sex talk, which includes discussion of crushes, being “straight,” a “make-out closet,” “hooking up,” cheating, touching a girl’s “under boob,” dating apps, “gay TikTok,” hitting on a mom, some jokes about periods and their “flow” (a crude scene involves a girl’s bloodied maxi pad floating in water in front of classmates), and tween girls primping and posing for guys and/or social media posts. Language includes “s—,” “damn,” “goddamn,” “hell,” “a–,” “a–hole” and a whole bunch of milder insults. The families are wealthy, and their kids expect expensive and elaborate parties thrown on their behalf. The moral of the story is the value of friendship and community and learning from selfless acts. (103 minutes)

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