Story

Charlie (Priya-Rose Brookwell) is a young girl who was abandoned by her mother in early childhood. She has since been raised in a children’s home, from which she repeatedly runs away in the hope of finding her mother. Eventually the home tracks down Charlie’s aunt, Dinah Little (Golda Rosheuvel), who reluctantly agrees to take Charlie in. Dinah is a bitter woman, struggling to keep her small farm afloat.

Dinah lives in the village of Mugford, famous for its annual pumpkin competition. Charlie decides to enter the competition so she can use the prize money to search for her mother. Gifted with the ability to understand plants, Charlie grows a pumpkin named Peter. When Charlie’s mother Polly (Kathryn Drysdale) unexpectedly turns up, she disrupts Charlie’s plan and throws both her and Dinah’s lives into disarray.

Themes

Abandonment of a child; the need to belong; loss and grief

Violence

Grow has some violence. For example:

• A couple of scenes refer to horror movies and while it is unlikely children will understand the intent of the humour behind either of the scenes, as they are aimed at the parents, the references are to movies which are not for children.
• The first of which is a scene of a pumpkin being watered under a shower. The farmer closes a curtain around it and a hooded figure appears with a knife in hand. A stabbing sound is heard as the pumpkin is stabbed multiples times. An orange blood-like substance flows away (Psycho style).
• The other scene is one of a man in bed who wakes up to feel something odd in his bed. He throws back the covers to find a decapitated pumpkin with a wide-open mouth and large ‘teeth’ (similar to a scene in The Godfather).

Other violence includes:

• Charlie throws her school bag at a bus and is chased by a policeman.
• A tractor tyre runs over a man’s foot.
• Charlie throws a ball at a boy’s head.
• One of the boys tells Charlie that her mother just didn’t want her. Charlie attacks the boy, punching and beating him up.
• Charlie is chased by the neighbouring Lord and Lady of the manor, after requesting their advice on how to grow pumpkins.
• Charlie tries to destroy laboratory equipment because she believes it is hurting the pumpkins growing inside. One of the lab assistants grabs her roughly to remove her from the lab.
• Dinah threatens a man with a rifle.
• Charlie is chased by bees when she disturbs a beehive and is stung by them.
• A man is caught in the act of trying to destroy a pumpkin. A policeman grabs him roughly by the neck and restrains him.

Sexual references

Grow has some sexual references. For example:

• Arlo asks Dinah if Charlie is his daughter. Dinah replies, ‘We snogged once at a school disco’, to which Arlo responds, ‘But what a snogger’.
• A shopkeeper tries to ask if Dinah has gone organic, but mistakenly says ‘orgasmic’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Grow has some substance use, for example – Polly and Gaz celebrate with a bottle of champagne.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Grow.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Grow.

Coarse language

Grow has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Grow is a British family movie that explores themes of abandonment, loss, and the desire to belong. It includes light comic relief and whimsical moments and celebrates the joy of finding a new purpose in life; however, it’s darker themes make it unsuitable for young children and best suited to families with older children and teens.

The main messages from Grow are that embracing change can be a positive thing, and that love comes from unexpected places.

Values in Grow that you could reinforce with your children include respect for nature, looking out for others, belonging, determination and resilience.

Grow could also give you the chance to talk with your children about how people’s past experiences can lead to challenging behaviour, but compassion, belonging, and care can help individuals grown and change.