I heartily believe in the message of this documentary, but the tone is awfully childish. It's a combination of the reliance on animation, the fake doctor-character asking questions, and the general simplification of the subject matter. Maybe that's a good thing—the younger someone is, the more likely they can change the way they eat and completely avoid the consequences of poor diet. But if the film could cater to all ages, in the style of Pixar films, it would be an easier watch.
At just 74 minutes, Carb-Loaded is shorter than many children's films. But it's harder to sit through, even for an adult (young though I may be) interested in the subject. Getting a kid to sit through this would be difficult, even though kids appear to be the target audience (PG rating aside—incidentally, I didn't see any reason for this to get higher than a G). An updated version in the near future could probably be much improved, both by newer statistics and by tweaking the style to hold attention better. This is really important food for thought (pun slightly intended), and it would be great to make it as easy for kids to watch as possible.
Obviously, Lathe and Eric have a passion for this topic. I applaud them for putting this out, even as I point out ways in which it could have been done better.
Final rating: 5.9
Shout by Felipe IbañezBlockedParent2020-02-28T01:05:42Z
*Very educational!*
Perfect!!! Well balanced...you have a mix of experts and pundits who provide some excellent ideas and options. Stop eating carbs? No. Go Atkins? No. Instead, the movie provides suggestions on what foods to eat, why, and, how the boxed carbs and fake fats destroy our health. The movie includes vegan MD David Katz, Paleo advocate Mark Sisson, etc., etc., so, clearly trying to provide balance on the information provided.
The movie never insults -- instead, it keeps you smiling most of the time -- but opens with an surprising revelation regarding one of the two stars of the movie having had diabetes-related health issues because of his high carb diet despite exercising and maintaining a low % of bodyfat. (NOTE: there are others such as Tim Noakes, TJ Murphy who followed the high carb approach and also ended up with insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, etc., despite hours of endurance training, etc.)
BTW, stay through the whole movie -- a couple of humorous outtakes at the end.
My score 7/10.