Dot Conner: Webtective

Rated PG • Theaters

Being a parent often means making a trade-off with entertainment for your kids. You want something that will be good—that they, and hopefully you, will enjoy—but also will be safe for them. It’s not always an easy combination to find. Andrew and Jae Huff, a husband and wife filmmaking team, made Dot Conner: Webtechtive as a TV show—and now a movie—to provide their own children with entertainment that strikes the right balance.

Dot Conner: Webtective follows a Christian girl who, now in high school, has to use the skills she learned to solve Biblical mysteries online to solve a real mystery: the disappearance of her dad, who, it turns out, has been kidnapped by Russian spies.

The movie is a mixed bag for those looking for a genuinely entertaining kids film. Sometimes it feels like a throwback to 1990s Christian video store kids-movie offerings, with cringey, on-the-nose dialogue and try-hard jokes that feel more like what adults think will make kids laugh than what kids—and adults—will actually find funny.

But other times it’s genuinely entertaining. When the film embraces being silly rather than message-y, a lot of the jokes land. Like the running gag of the henchman who wants fashion advice from Dot’s dad or the extended gag about actor John Rhys Davies. Sometimes the cheesiness turns into a strength by making the hyper-sincerity part of the fun or character development, like when Dot says her “biggest case of all” is high school or when the mean girl makes fun of her for “not solving real mysteries,” just “Bible mysteries.” There is also some clever use of internet language like emojis as sight gags.

Sadly, the ratio of cringe to delightful leans more to the cringe. Meaning most Christian parents will be choosing the film for its positive messages and lack of objectionable content rather than its genuine entertainment value. We know it’s possible to make high-quality content for kids—classic Pixar, Bluey, VeggieTales, and even the animated Jesus film Light of the World now in theaters—so this trade-off is harder for parents to get kids to go along with. It even runs the risk of making kids think that Christianity is less cool or beautiful than the secular worldviews that have more entertaining movies.

Even so, you have to admire Christian parents who don’t just complain about the culture but try to shape it. Hopefully the Huffs and others continue to hone their craft and create Christian content for kids so parents won’t have to make trade-offs anymore.

Dot Conner has enough laughs and good moments that people merely looking for faith-based content for kids will be satisfied. Those looking for something more will have to play detective a little longer.