Blinky Bill the movie

image for Blinky Bill the movie

Short takes

Not recommended under 6; parental guidance recommended 6-8 (Themes; Violence; Scary scenes). Ideal for 9-13 year-olds

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Blinky Bill the movie
  • a review of Blinky Bill the movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 14 September 2015.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not recommended due to themes and violent and scary scenes
Children aged 6-9 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and violent and scary scenes
Children aged 9 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: Blinky Bill the movie
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Some scenes may scare very young children
Length: 91 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Bill Koala (voice of Richard Roxburgh) is the greatest explorer in the Australian outback but when he goes missing his son Blinky Bill (voice of Ryan Kwanten) decides to brave the dangerous unknown and to search for  his father. On the journey Blinky meets a zoo koala named Nutsy (voice of Robin McLeavy) and a frill neck lizard named Jacko (voice of David Wenham). Together, the three of them must face the scary ‘Croc Canyon’ if they want to find Blinky’s father and return home. 

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.

Death of a parent; separation from a parent; children as victims

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 is a scary cat who continually tries to attack and eat Blinky and his friends throughout the movie. On several occasions the cat corners Blinky and almost kills him but Blinky always gets away.
  • Nutsy occasionally punches or kicks Blinky when they get lost.
  • The cat attacks a wombat and the audience thinks that he is dead. Later in the film it is revealed that he is okay.
  • The crocodiles in Croc Canyon try to eat Blinky and his friends. They just managed to escape safely.
  • The scary cat is eaten by a crocodile.

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:

  • One of the characters warns Blinky that he might “smash his brains open” if his kite breaks.
  • One of the characters is almost squashed by a falling rock. For a moment everyone thinks that she is dead, but it is quickly revealed that she is fine.  
  • In an upsetting scene for children, Blinky’s mum says that she has given up on his father ever returning. Blinky gets very upset and runs to his room.
  • Along Blinky’s journey he encounters some scary elements of the outback. Including dangerous wild animals and spooky dark forests.
  • Blinky finds a dead lizard on the road and then almost gets run over by a truck himself.
  • Blinky and his friends start hallucinating from heat exhaustion when they are out in the desert. This may be frightening for young children.  
  • Nutsy reveals that both of her parents died in a bushfire. This may be an emotional scene for children.
  • The scariest scene is in Croc Canyon when Nutsy is surrounded by scary crocs that are chomping at her toes. She almost falls to her death but is saved at the last minute.
  • Blinky finds his dad’s hat and a pile of bones (not shown on screen) and thinks that his dad is dead. Blinky is very sad and this scene may be disturbing for young children. Later in the movie we discover that his father is still alive.  

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.

Children in this age group are also likely to be scared or disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes

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.

Younger children in this group  may be scared or disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes

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 of concern

Product placement

The Blinky Bill franchise and associated merchandise

Sexual references

Jacko flirts with one of the emus

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

Nothing of concern

Coarse language

There is some mild coarse language that children may imitate in this movie, including:

  • ‘stupid’; ‘boofhead’; ‘shut up’

In a nutshell

Blinky Bill the movie is an enjoyable adventure film filled with Australian slang and Australian animals. Parents should be aware that it was originally classified PG and reclassified G by the Classification Review Board after an appeal by the distributor.

It is not recommended for children under the age of 6 and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 6-9, because of the themes and a number of scary and violent scenes. 

The main message from this movie is that “an adventurer never gives up, always helps those in need and always keeps his promises.”

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

  • kindness
  • acceptance of others
  • bravery
  • perseverance

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the pros and cons of keeping animals in zoos and wildlife centres.