ANNIHILATION | FAMILY MOVIE REVIEW INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND KIDS

"ANNIHILATION"
(2018) (Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh) (R)

QUICK TAKE:: Sci-Fi/Horror: A small team of women enters an ever-expanding environmental anomaly in search of answers about what it is, what's inside it, and why no other team over the past three years has returned from it.

PLOT:

It's been three years since a meteorite struck near a lighthouse in southern Florida and created a mysterious environmental anomaly that's come to be known as The Shimmer. Slowly expanding, it's been investigated by both humans and machines, but neither has ever come back, with rumors that either whatever is in there is killing those who enter or they end up going crazy and kill each other. Unbeknownst to Army soldier turned biology professor Lena (NATALIE PORTMAN), her Army husband, Kane (OSCAR ISAAC), was sent on a mission into The Shimmer and it's been a year since anyone has seen him. Lena has tried to get on with her life, and is startled when Kane suddenly shows up at their home. But something's not right with him as he can't seem to recall any details and then suddenly suffers from multiple organ failure.

While he's being rushed to the hospital, Feds intercept their ambulance and take both Kane and Lena into custody. It's then that she learns all about the Shimmer from Dr. Ventress (JENNIFER JASON LEIGH), a psychologist who's been selecting and sending teams into the anomaly for years. Now, she's going to lead her own small team -- including medic Anya Thorensen (GINA RODRIGUEZ), anthropologist Cass Sheppard (TUVA NOVOTNY) and physicist Josie Radek (TESSA THOMPSON) -- into the unknown and Lena, wanting to know what happened to her husband, joins them.

With their communication and navigation gear useless, and with time seeming to pass them by without notice, the five women head through the thick forest in search of the lighthouse. But they must contend with views of and sometimes dangerous encounters with sped-up evolution involving plant and animal mutations along the way, initially unaware that their own DNA is being affected as well.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're into headier sci-fi sorts of films, monster movies or are fans of anyone in the cast, they might have some interest in seeing this.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality.

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