Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, scary and disturbing scenes and themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 12 | Not suitable due to high level of violence, scary scenes and disturbing themes. |
Children aged 12–13 | Parental guidance recommended due to high level of violence. |
Children aged 14 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: | Blue Beetle |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Mature themes and violence |
Length: | 128 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) has just graduated from university and returned home to his very proud family of Mum (Elpidia Carrillo), Dad (Damian Alcazar), sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo), Uncle Rudy (George Lopez) and Nana (Adriana Barraza). Jaime soon learns that his family is to be evicted from their home and so agrees to work with his sister, cleaning the mansion of Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), CEO of Kord Industries. However, when Jaime sees Victoria abusing her niece Jenny (Bruna Marquezine), he intervenes, causing him to lose his job. Jenny promises Jaime a new job and arranges to meet him at the head office of Kord Industries the following day. It transpires that Victoria has discovered an ancient alien creature called the Scarab. Victoria is plotting to use the Scarab to boost her One Man Army Corps (OMAC) to take over the world. Jenny is determined to prevent her and breaks into her office to steal the Scarab. While being chased, Jenny hands the Scarab, hidden in a box, to Jaime for safe keeping.
On returning home, Jaime is persuaded by his family to open the box. The Scarab leaps out of the box and enters his body, covering him in an armoured exoskeleton with great powers. As the ‘Blue Beetle’, Jaime now has the power to battle Victoria’s army, which is also armed with exoskeletons. They are led by Victoria’s lieutenant, Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), a formidable foe. In the ensuing battles, Jaime’s house is destroyed, causing his father to die from a heart attack. Jaime is captured by Carapax while distracted and taken to Victoria’s Island and laboratory where she plans to transfer the Scarab’s code from Jaime to Carapax. Jaime must summon all his courage to prevent this happening and to continue the war against Kord and OMAC.
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.
Science Fiction; Superheroes; World Dominion; Action Adventure; Separation of children from parents; Loss of a parent.
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 a lot of stylised comic style violence with little blood or gore 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.
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:
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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
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:
Blue Beetle is a science fiction movie, based on the Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle DC character. The film is fast moving and full of action and comic-style violence. There are some disturbing themes, however, concerning abandoned children and their fate in comparison to the stability of a loving family. It is also quite intense in parts and is, therefore, not suitable for children under 12 and best suited to teens and up.
The main messages from this movie are the importance of a supporting, loving family; and that good triumphs over evil.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
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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