PG | 1h 47m | Family, Kids, Comedy | 2025
“Grow” is a delightful and magical little family film about a pumpkin-growing contest, in the tiny fictitious village of Mugford, Scotland.
Charlie (Priya-Rose Brookwell), a little girl abandoned by her mom, is now being raised by her aunt Dinah Little (Golda Rosheuvel), in Mugford. She’s got an ability to communicate with plants. Turns out, this is no longer the realm of magical fairy tales—it’s actual science. But more about that later.
‘Grow’
Charlie thinks her mom (Kathryn Drysdale) ran away three years ago because she dreams of becoming a famous Hollywood actress. Charlie wants nothing more than to find her mother; that’s why she’s now with Aunt Dinah. The orphanage where Charlie was living caught her trying to board a bus to the airport to fly to Hollywood.Aunt Dinah in her bandana, overalls, and wellies owns a small farm that isn’t doing too well. She uses too much toxic bug spray, but she hasn’t figured that out yet. While she frowns upon her niece’s dream to find her mom, she’s ultimately responsible for planting the seed of just how to do so, in Charlie’s mind.
How? She tells Charlie that she’ll need quite a lot of money to pay for the plane trip to Hollywood, hotels, and a private detective to locate the mom who, for some strange reason, changed her last name to “Monroe.” When Charlie finds out you can win 100,000 pounds for growing the heaviest pumpkin in Mugford—her life’s mission finally has a clear-cut plan!
Step One: Grow a Big Pumpkin
The practical-minded and not-in-the-least-bit-shy Charlie goes around the town collecting information on how to grow a pumpkin. However, the town’s residents aren’t forthcoming—because why help the competition? For years, the resident champions have been her neighbors, the mansion-dwelling Smythe-Gherkins (Jane Horrocks and Tim McInnerney). They chase the pesky Charlie away off their estate with cricket bats, but not before inadvertently revealing that they once lost the contest back in 2010.Who was 2010’s mysterious winner? Aunt Dinah might know. She and Charlie drop by the cabin of an old high school boyfriend, the reclusive but quite jovial Arlo (Nick Frost). When Charlie wanders around Arlo’s greenhouse, touching and talking to his plants, listening to their complaints, and rearranging them accordingly, Dinah and Arlo think she’s gone completely daft.
The Competition
In addition to the Smythe-Gherkins, Charlie’s going up against local scientist Mr. Gregory (Jeremy Swift), who’s got an entire lab dedicated to producing a massive, mutated pumpkin. It’s the perfect juxtaposition to the healthy relationship with nature that “grow” champions. If mad-scientist Mr. Gregory had been aware of the real-life, giant vegetables (VW-beetle-sized cabbages and such) grown close by on the Scottish farm of Findhorn in the 1970s—by farmers who talked to their plants like Charlie did—he might have set his whole lab on fire.After hearing Charlie say that the plants in Dinah’s fields have lost their voices (Arlo corroborates this by making the connection that the deadening effect of bug spray is to blame), Aunt Dinah eventually rethinks her farming strategy. She fires her ne’er-do-well, lazy farmhand (Joe Wilkinson), jettisons the use of pesticides, and makes the switch to growing organic produce. She’s not the only one. Mr. Gregory’s highly educated lab-assistant (Fisayo Akinade) spies on Charlie’s growing methods and becomes inspired as well.
It’s also been scientifically proven that plants can sense and respond emotionally to human thought. So it stands to reason that if plants can do that, every once in a while someone may come along who can sense what plants are thinking. “Grow” is not a just a fun, silly little kid-movie. It’s actual truth!
