THINGS I LIKED:
I've now seen all 4 of the film versions of this story because I wanted to evaluate and compare them for my movie review channel on YouTube. I thought I'd be bored watching this because I had already seen the other movies. I was completely wrong! This series shared much more information that the other films didn't. It introduces you to more people who had a huge impact on the success of the rescue, as well as shows you all of the other methods that were tried and failed, making you understand how crucial it was that the final attempt worked.
Even though I already knew the story and what was going to happen, I got teary-eyed quite a few times.
We get to learn a lot more about the boys, their families, and what they were experiencing.
We understand better why the coach knew how to meditate and why he felt inspired to teach the boys how to do it in order to remain calm and use less oxygen in the cave.
We see relationships being built by everyone involved in the story and the sacrifices that were made in the community.
We feel the complex emotions of the parents and the legal permissions that were requested of them.
We get to travel to Thailand and experience its beautiful country and people. I was touched by their humble homes and big hearts.
It's important for American audiences to see that not all heroes were from the USA.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
If you don't want to invest 6 hours of your life in watching this story, I highly recommend you watch the Ron Howard movie 13 Lives. It offers a condensed telling in the style of big Hollywood blockbusters.
Not all of the acting is perfect but it sure was heartfelt.
The English dubbing is pretty bad.
If you watch English captions AND listen to the dubbing, you'll be frustrated by how different the translations are.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
People are in perilous situations.
Some kids show disrespect.
Spoiler: someone dies.
Talk of drowning and death.
Lazy employees are illustrated.
THEMES:
Hope
Family
Unity
Hard work
Thinking outside the box
The value of human life
Mother Nature
Heroism
Miracles
The power of medicine.
