Bigfoot Family

image for Bigfoot Family

Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 8 (scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Bigfoot Family
  • a review of Bigfoot Family completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 March 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to scary scenes.
Children aged 5–8 Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes.
Children aged 9–13 Ok for this age group.
Children over the age of 13 Ok for this age group but 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: Bigfoot Family
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes, mild violence, scary scenes
Length: 88 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Adam (voiced by Jules Wojciechowski), the son of Bigfoot (voiced by Roger Craig Smith) and Shelly (voiced by Lindsey Alena), has big shoes to fill after his father comes out of hiding and becomes a worldwide sensation. To do something meaningful with his fame, Bigfoot travels to Alaska to help protest an oil drilling company, and Adam prepares to lose his father all over again. When Bigfoot goes missing after breaking into the grounds of the oil company, Adam and his mother travel to Alaska to find him. Adam, his mother, and their animal companions, Wilbur the Kodiak bear (voiced by Michael Sorich) and Trapper the raccoon (voiced by Joey Lotsko), must battle armed guards, hungry wolves, and a money-obsessed oil tycoon to find Bigfoot and save the Alaskan valley from destruction.

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 separation; Environmentalism; Animal distress.

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:

  • Wilbur the bear attacks several armed guards who are trying to kidnap Adam – this may frighten very young children.
  • Armed guards chase Adam and try to shoot him with tranquiliser darts.

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:

  • A rabbit is chased by a wolf who is trying to eat it – the wolf is frightening in appearance.
  • Bigfoot growls at a talent agent – this may scare very young children.
  • Adam lives with a Kodiak bear – although he is friendly, he is realistically animated and may frighten very young children.
  • Bigfoot is chased by a moose who headbutts him several times – Bigfoot is unhurt.
  • A wolf attacks Adam – this is frightening and includes a jump scare (Adam is unhurt).

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:

  • Bigfoot is heard vomiting after a rough plane trip.
  • Wilbur the bear is shot in the back with several tranquiliser darts while protecting Adam from armed guards.
  • Adam appears to fall off a cliff but is unhurt.
  • A family of animals are nearly killed trying to escape an oncoming wave of oil.
  • Adam is thrown down a mine shaft by the oil tycoon – Adam is unhurt.
  • Armed drones chase and attack Adam and his parents in an attempt to kill them.

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:

  • Adam races to disarm a bomb and stops it just in time – this is tense and may distress younger children.

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.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Starbucks coffee.
  • Pascals marshmallows.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Adam and Emma (Adam’s friend and love interest) kiss and Adam’s feet burst out of his shoes – this joke will likely be missed by most children.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Heck.

In a nutshell

Bigfoot Family, the sequel to The Son of Bigfoot (2017), is an animated children’s comedy with strong themes of environmental protection and family love. Originally in French, this film was dubbed in English for its Netflix release. This film is likely to entertain children, however, due to scary scenes and jump scares, it is not suitable for children under 5 and parental guidance is recommended to age 8.

The main messages from this movie are that protecting the environment is more important than money; and that one person can make a difference.

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

  • Looking after your family in times of crisis.
  • Protecting others from harm when they cannot do it themselves (such as animals in the environment).

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

  • The real-life consequences of fame and attention on mental health.
  • The risks of driving while tired – Adam’s mum drives them to Alaska and appears to be falling asleep.
  • The dangers of swimming through river rapids.