Not recommended under 8, parental guidance recommended 8-12 due to violence and scary scenes.
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children 8 to 12 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Viewers aged 12 and over | OK for this age group |
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: | Beauty and the Beast (2017) |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes and violence |
Length: | 129 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Belle (Emma Watson) is an intelligent and determined girl who lives in a small French provincial village and dreams of bigger things. One day her father (Kevin Kline) doesn’t return home from the market and Belle goes out in search of him, discovering an enchanted castle with magical servants. The tormented Beast (Dan Stevens), who is actually the prince who owns the castle, imprisons Belle in exchange for her father’s freedom.
Belle’s father pleads to Gaston (Luke Evans), the vain and sexist town hero, and his sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad) to help him rescue Belle, but Gaston has other plans. Meanwhile, the Beast’s servants try to show Belle the true nature of the Beast, and she begins to see him differently.
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.
Death of a parent/serious illness; separation from a parent; magical transformations; sexism
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:
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:
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:
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.
Some children in this age group may be scared by some of the above-mentioned scenes
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.
Nothing of concern
Nothing in the film, but plenty of tie-in merchandise
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
Several characters kiss
Villagers drink at the tavern
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful and heart-warming remake of the original animated musical. Belle is a wonderful role model to teach children about kindness, intelligence and being strong and independent. Due to the violent and scary scenes, the film is more intense than Disney’s previous animated film, and is not recommended for children under the age of 8 and parental guidance is recommended for children up to 12.
The main messages from this movie are not to judge people by what is on the surface, and the importance of kindness and compassion. However, some parents may be concerned about the suggestion that women can ‘fix’ men who are scary and dangerous.
Parents may also wish to discuss the way in which Gaston treats Belle and other women, and ways of dealing with grief after the death of a loved one (such as Belle’s mother).
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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