Argonuts

image for Argonuts

Short takes

Not suitable under 3; parental guidance to 5 (violence, crude humour)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Argonuts
  • a review of Argonuts completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 13 April 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 3 Not suitable due to violence and crude humour.
Children aged 3–5 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and crude humour.
Children aged 6–10 Ok for this age group.
Children aged 11 and over Ok for this age group, though may lack interest.

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: Argonuts
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Very mild animated violence and crude humour
Length: 95 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Adopted by a vegetarian cat called Sam (voice of Mark Camacho), young mouse Pattie (voice of Sonja Ball) dreams of becoming a heroine like her elderly idol, Jason (voice of Terrence Scammell), who led the legendary crew of the Argo on their historic adventures. It was Jason who brought back the Golden Fleece, ensuring the protection, prosperity and perfect unity of all who dwell within the city limits. Sam wants nothing more than to keep Pattie safe and close by his side, so he secretly sabotages her chance to travel abroad. However, it would seem that the fates want Pattie to have a life of adventure and they will not be dissuaded. When a splendid statue of Zeus is unveiled, Poseidon (voice of Terrence Scammell) is deeply enraged. He takes the Golden Fleece and demands that they create an equally marvellous statue of him, or else the entire town will suffer a cataclysmic event and be wiped off the face of the Earth. Pattie remembers an ancient map with directions to a huge, emerald-shaped trident and, with the help of a seagull named Chickos (voice of Whyatt Bowen), she makes sure that Jason sees the map and that he explains his perfect plan to the townspeople. When Chickos sees that Jason and his skeletal crew (who have been brought back from the dead) are not quite up to the physical standards they used to be, he enlists Pattie’s help to sail the Argo and save the town. Terrified of losing his daughter, Sam joins the voyage too. The unusual crew face all manner of tests and trials and eventually make it to the island they seek, only to discover that the map they had pinned all their hopes on is nothing more than a Cyclops trick to lure sailors and treasure hunters to their deaths. With time running out, can Pattie and the Argonuts find a way to salvage their mission and save the town, or will they all perish in the process?

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.

Family breakdown; Deceit; Bullying and ridicule; Settling for less than your dreams.

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:

  • A character gets stabbed in the foot.
  • Poseidon punches his way through a protective barrier to grab the Golden Fleece.
  • Poseidon threatens the townspeople with a huge wave towering behind him and tells them that they have seven days in which to build a statue or he will unleash his fury.
  • Rats attack each other.
  • A baby kraken grabs the Argo and plays with it like a toy boat. It crushes and damages parts of the ship, all the while a big goober of snot is dangling from its nose. The kraken sneezes, blasting snot everywhere. Sam falls into the snot and then violently vomits all over the boat.
  • Pattie hits Sam and shoves him away, telling him that she never wants to see him again.
  • A giant, robotic Cyclops throws rocks at the Argo, trying to smash and sink the ship.
  • A rat threatens another character with a shard of glass.
  • A band of seedy-looking Cyclops attack Jason and the Argonuts, capturing them all and taking them to their camp to be made into soup.
  • Two mice tie up Sam and pelt him with dried beans.
  • Two stranded mouselings tell how their family was killed by the Cyclops.
  • A Hydra chases Pattie and Chickos, nearly biting Pattie.
  • Pattie makes the Hydra run into a mallet and its heads are chopped off. Four more soon replace the two that were missing.
  • Sam is knocked unconscious and captured by the Cyclops.
  • A little mouse attacks Pattie.
  • A Hydra tries to eat a scorpion.
  • A dragon-like creature knocks two mice off a bird.
  • A Hydra attacks two scorpions who try to stab the Hydra. They continue to stab at the heads of the Hydra, severing them repeatedly so that the Hydra is immobilised by the number of heads it grows.
  • The Cyclops and scorpions fight, bashing, hitting, punching, smacking etc.
  • Cyclops are crushed into the ground by a rogue mechanical Cyclops. The robotic Cyclops then crushes itself with a huge boulder.
  • An angry Cyclops tries to attack the crew of the Argo and destroy what is left of the boat. He is turned into a tree by the sunlight.

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.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Sam pulls down the underpants of a Cyclops, exposing the creature’s buttocks.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Characters drink mugs of beer.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Pipsqueak
  • Nerd
  • Brat(s).

In a nutshell

Argonuts is an animated adventure, taking familiar aspects of an old story and weaving together a new, but predictable plot. The film contains some crude humour featuring Cyclops bottoms, snot and vomit. While not suitable for children under 3, it will be most enjoyed by children under 10 and families looking for something to watch together.

The main messages from this movie are to never give up on your dreams or on anything you set out to achieve; to believe in yourself even if others don’t; and that by working together you can achieve the impossible.

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

  • Teamwork
  • Kindness
  • Helpfulness
  • Ingenuity
  • Determination.

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

  • Discounting the importance of dreams and what someone hopes they will achieve with their life.
  • Settling for what everyone thinks you should be rather than what you want for yourself.
  • Putting others down and ridiculing them.
  • Lying or deceiving those you love.