Among the sea of media mega-giants like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube-all vying for our attention-is one company that stands out from the rest. It’s called Pure Flix and exclusively features Christian and family-friendly content. While a wonderful concept, the question is: Is this service worth the subscription? Let’s find out!

CONTENT

The amount of content Pure Flix has is quite impressive! Since there are both Christian and family-friendly films available, their catalog is far greater than if they just represented Christian films. In terms of quality, their Christian movie section has many popular titles including: God’s Not Dead 2, I’m Not Ashamed, Do You Believe?, Woodlawn, and the Left Behind series. They also have one of my new favorite films, Storm: Luther’s Forbidden Letter.

Even more exciting for me are the Pure Flix original series. While there are many Christian movies, it’s extremely difficult to find a Christian television series. Pure Flix has created a platform for such content to exist. Their television shows vary in genres and I will be reviewing them on this site in the near future.

The one area that I’m not totally impressed with is the classic movie section. I love a good black and white film and, while they have them, they aren’t well-known ones. I searched under Lucille Ball, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, John Wayne, and Myrna Loy. None of their popular movies showed up. However, if you are looking for rare (or underappreciated) works, than you may enjoy their selection.

FUNCTIONALITY

Overall, the system is very user-friendly. If you know how to work Netflix and Hulu, you should be able to easily find your way around Pure Flix. There are a few differences, like not being able to pause the movie using the computer’s space bar, but nothing major.

The only area that I wish was a tad more functional is the division between Christian and simply family-friendly movies. Ideally, there would be a category section or a way to search and separate out Christian movies from the rest. Right now, you just have to read in the description to see what it’s about.

FAMILY VIEWING

Pure Flix’s focus is family-friendly content, but not everything on their site is for a young audience. Some of their movies deal with sensitive topics and are geared towards adult audiences. However, they do try to inform viewers about the content. At the bottom of many of their films is a rating section created by Movieguide. With a quick glance you can see what the minimum recommended viewing age is and if there is any bad language, nudity, sex, or violence. Should the film have content that falls into any of those categories; they tell you if it is lightly used, moderately used, or heavily used. They also give a detailed paragraph for anyone who wants a little more insight into the film’s  content.

Keep in mind, however, that the Movieguide review isn’t on every movie and TV show available. Since we’re being given such a comprehensive review, I’m hoping that it is just taking them a little more time to cover all of their content.

EDUCATIONAL USE

For Christian educators, Pure Flix is a great tool. Aside from the obvious benefit of having more Christian movies at your fingertips than Netflix and Hulu combined, Pure Flix takes it a step further by including PDF movie discussion guides for several of their films. They are great to use with a Bible study or youth gathering.

Pure Flix also helps with homeschooling curriculum. They have many movies and documentaries for children that come with free downloadable materials and weekly video guides. They also give 3 free months of SchoolhouseTeachers.com to subscribers.

PRICE

Like most streaming services, Pure Flix gives you a 1-month free trial. If you decide to keep the service, it’s $10.99 a month. While a bit higher than Netflix and Hulu’s basic services, it is around the same price or less than their higher tier options. This includes Hulu’s ad-free service for $11.99. If you know you want to keep Pure Flix for a while, you can subscribe to their 1-year membership plan for $99.99, bringing your cost to a little over $8.00 a month.

GIVING BACK

Pure Flix shows it’s Christian values by donating a portion of their profits to charity. Currently, they partner with the following charities: AdoptTogether, to help fund adoptions; Reboot, helping military families; Warrior Home, serving struggling people throughot America; AMIkids, guiding at-risk youth; and Convoy of Hope, a faith-based organization helping people in need across the globe.