Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 15 (violence; disturbing scenes and themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 15 | Not recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes and themes. |
Children aged 15 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes and themes. |
Children aged 16 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: | Beaver, The |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes, sexual references and coarse language |
Length: | 91 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The Beaver is an unusual and intense film about Walter Black (Mel Gibson), a successful business executive and father of two, who is struggling to live with a debilitating mental illness. Walter’s wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) becomes fed up with Walter’s continued disengagement from her and their two children, Porter (Anton Yelchin) and Henry (Riley Stewart). She asks Walter to move out of the family home. Alone and desperately depressed Walter hits rock bottom attempting to end his misery by taking his own life.
Walter’s turning point comes when he stumbles upon a beaver hand puppet in a rubbish bin and finds that he can better relate to, and communicate with, those he loves while using the puppet’s persona.
Walter’s life seems to be almost miraculously cured with the beaver as his life support. However when Walter tries to separate himself from the beaver puppet and find his own voice, things become complicated.
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.
Suicide; mental illness; family breakdown
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.
Children under five are likely to be confused and scared by scenes involving the beaver puppet which they may see as a separate character
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.
Children in this age group may also be confused and disturbed by the relationship between Walter and the puppet, and also scenes of family distress, including
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 disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
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.
Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the scenes described above.
There is some product placement in this movie including;
None noted.
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The Beaver is an intense exploration of one man’s struggle to deal with his severe mental illness and the consequent affect it has on his family. Despite the animal title, the presence of a puppet and child actors in the cast, it is definitely not a film for children or younger teens
Parents of older adolescents may wish to discuss what the film shows about mental illness, its management and its impact on family functioning/ parent child relationships/ marital relationships
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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ABN: 16 005 214 531