★★★☆☆

I liked The Descendants, but must admit, all of the Academy Award chatter was a bit too much praise. George Clooney is both a lawyer and the eldest son of the family. Some new tax levee will wipe out all of his siblings if they don’t part with a massive chunk of virgin Hawaiian coast land.

His family are the direct descendants of the last Hawaiian princess (I forget her name) and this land has been held in a trust for all her children. George’s siblings have basically lived their life as if this trust was going to rain down limitless wealth any second now and, much to their dismay, for most of them it is time to pay the bill.

The attempt at teaching ethics and family values via a movie is laudable. The moral and patriarchal duty of wealthy parents not to give their kids too much is also laudable. Actually finding a big chunk of seemingly untouched land in Hawaii to film must have been a larger challenge than coming up with the money to afford George Clooney.

As I said, I liked The Descendants. Despite the R rating, it is a wholesome lesson for the entire family. I never saw anyone get naked or do the nasty so I guess I failed to notice an F-bomb somewhere.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.