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Movie · Drama, Thriller · 2022 · PG-13

Thirteen Lives: parents' guide

12+our pick

Best for ages 12 and up. Rated PG-13 for some strong language and unsettling images.

A tense, inspiring true rescue drama that suits most kids 12 and up, especially if they know going in that the boys survive. In 2018 twelve boys and their soccer coach are trapped deep in a flooding cave in Thailand, and expert divers devise a risky plan to bring them out. The peril is long and claustrophobic, and one volunteer rescuer dies underwater on screen. The boys are sedated with drugs for the dive out. Swearing includes a couple of f-words and some s-words, and there is no sexual content. The intensity, the death and the language are why we suggest 12.

What's in it

Violence

Moderate

A volunteer diver dies on screen from lack of air, a blast and falling rocks injure people, and divers have bloody hands and scrapes. A panicked man nearly drowns himself and his rescuer.

Language

Moderate

Infrequent but present: one review counted at least two f-words and about three s-words, plus ass, piss, bloody and Jesus used as an exclamation.

Sex and nudity

None

No sexual content, romance or nudity; the most skin shown is a man sitting shirtless in his underwear.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Moderate

A few adults smoke, one of them often, and rescuers drink beer to celebrate. Doctors sedate the boys with ketamine and other drugs, by pill and injection, so they can be carried out underwater.

Scary or intense scenes

Moderate

Long stretches of claustrophobic danger in dark, flooded tunnels, with children's lives at stake and rescuers fearing many will die. A diver's death is shown, and anxious families wait outside the cave for days.

Worth talking about

Officials decided to sedate the boys without first telling their parents. Was keeping that secret the right call, and who should make choices like that?

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, movieguide.org. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.