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