Kidzworld reviews the CONTEST DVD which helps being awareness to the issues surrounding bullying.
CONTEST premiered on Cartoon Network on October 6th in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month in order to inspire an open discussion between kids, parents and educators about the issue of bullying. Cartoon Network's Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative continues to shed a light on this problem and looks to come up with creative ideas and solutions to create positive social change. CONTEST is a great family movie with a bullying prevention theme just in time for the holidays.
Bullied high school student Tommy is suddenly befriended by his chief tormentor, Matt, the school’s most popular student and star athlete. Tommy is suspicious, but is forced to accept the awkward friendship in order to enter a cooking contest with a big prize. And besides, it’s so much easier to impress his crush, Sarah, when he’s not getting beat up by Matt and his team. As the cooking contest heats up, Sarah sniffs out a conspiracy, but nobody wants to hear about it. Can Tommy trust his budding friendship with Matt or is it all a huge joke on him?
The Bottom Line
When a movie is bringing attention to an issue as important as bullying, it's hard not to sit up and pay attention. There probably isn't a kid today who hasn't witnessed or been the victim of bullying to some degree, but stories like CONTEST are helping raise awareness in the mainstream about the different ways in which bullying can occur - and hopefully give you some ideas about what you can do about it and how to look out for it along with showing an entertaining story.
Luckily this story has a happy ending, and shows that even enemies and opposites can common interests, at the heart of it it's a feel-good story. What the movie lacks in budget, it makes up for in originality - it's not often you see an anti-bullying, character-exploration sabotage-thriller after all! The cast truly bring the story to life (although there are certain parts where you'll have to suspend your disbelief, for example the movie hints at extreme physical violence but doesn't really show it affecting the characters the way it would in real life, ie. a hospital visit.) All in all, it's pretty decent film with an important message and some interesting twists and turns to boot!
CONTEST DVD Rating: 
CONEST is now available on DVD!
