A Second Chance: Rivals!

image for A Second Chance: Rivals!

Short takes

Not suitable under 9, parental guidance under 13 (tween and teen themes, (cyber-) bullying/interpersonal violence, disordered eating, death)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for A Second Chance: Rivals!
  • a review of A Second Chance: Rivals! completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 30 September 2019.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 9 Not suitable due to tween and teen themes, (cyber-) bullying/interpersonal violence, eating disorders and death of a major character
Children aged 9–12 Parental guidance due to themes, interpersonal violence, disordered eating and death
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: A Second Chance: Rivals!
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Occasional mild coarse language
Length: 89 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

A Second Chance: Rivals! is a sequel to the 2011 Australian family drama A 2nd Chance, featuring many actors from the original cast. Set ten years after the events of the original movie, former world-class gymnast Maddie Cornell (Emily Morris) is in a personal crisis after a serious accident on the beam ended her Olympic dream. In order to recover physically and emotionally, Maddie seeks refuge in the South Australian countryside, staying with family friend Beverly (Carmel Johnson), who coaches the local gymnast team. Reluctant at first, Maddie agrees to coach the young competition team and train them up for the national championships. A lot of hard work lies ahead for the young country girls if they want to beat their archenemies from the city.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Coming of age, gymnastics, competitive sports, rivalry, social pressure, (cyber)bullying, girl friendships, living for a passion, loss and grief.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • There are some characters that use cyber bullying, such as posting mean comments about other competitors in a gymnast forum.
  • There are some mild verbal threats in the context of sports competitiveness.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • There are flashbacks of Maddie's accident, where she slips, crashes on her back on the beam and falls to the ground. She is shown in pain.
  • One of the main characters dies from a long-term illness and characters are shown in distress and grief.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Nothing of additional concern.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Nothing of additional concern.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

It is unlikely that children aged 13 and over will be frightened or distressed by this movie.

Product placement

  • None noted

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is some mild romance when Maddie is encouraged to go on a date with a young man. At the end she accepts a rose and his invitation, and they hug with people applauding.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some mild coarse language in this movie, including:

  • In the context of cyber bullying characters are called "fat", "ugly", "sulky", and "useless".

In a nutshell

A Second Chance: Rivals! is a predictable, yet charming and entertaining, sequel to its predecessor from 2011. Like the original, this coming of age family drama features impressively talented junior gymnasts and gives an insight into the world of competitive junior sport, its promises of glory and success, but also its risks and sacrifices. With the cast being almost exclusively female and following a group of 12-year-old gymnasts, this movie is likely to appeal mostly to female tweens and teens.

The main messages from this movie are:

  • follow your heart and your passion
  • you cannot always win and that's okay
  • be a fair loser, take defeat with grace and learn your lessons from it
  • work hard and set your mind to a goal in order to succeed
  • trust your own abilities and your gut feeling
  • take advice from people who you trust.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • the importance of family and friends
  • the power of forgiveness and fairness
  • diligence and discipline.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • cyber bullying and being mean and the psychological consequences for the victim
  • the dangers of social media and the internet
  • the social pressures with regards to appearance and the "thin-ideal"
  • the dangers of developing an eating disorder in order to match the dangerous ideals on the internet and in competitive sport.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of:

  • cultural diversity and embracing Australia's indigenous people.