C.H.O.M.P.S.

image for C.H.O.M.P.S.

Short takes

Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 9 (slapstick violence, scary scenes, mild coarse language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for C.H.O.M.P.S.
  • a review of C.H.O.M.P.S. completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 October 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to slapstick violence, scary scenes and mild coarse language.
Children aged 6–9 Parental guidance recommended due to slapstick violence, scary scenes and mild coarse language
Children aged 10 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: C.H.O.M.P.S.
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: The content is very mild in impact
Length: 90 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

In response to a rise in criminal activity in their town, security systems engineer Brian (Wesley Eure) is determined to create a state-of-the-art security system for Norton Security. Unfortunately, his current design is unable to combat the rise in crime, causing his boss Mr Norton (Conrad Bain) to fire him.

Unbeknownst to Mr Norton, Brian has been secretly developing a new, revolutionary system in the form of a crime-fighting robot dog called the “canine home protection system”, or C.H.O.M.P.S. for short. Brian hopes that C.H.O.M.P.S. is his key to winning back the approval of Mr Norton; both to save Norton Security from bankruptcy and to ask for Mr Norton’s blessing to marry his daughter Casey (Valerie Bertinelli).

However, once Norton Security competitor Mr Gibbs (Jim Backus) catches wind of C.H.O.M.P.S., he decides to steal the robotic dog and his criminal antics cause chaos for Brian and his furry friend.

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.

Anti-corporation; Criminal Activity; Technological Advancement.

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:

  • This film is full of slapstick violence that does not lead to injury (falling out of windows, getting chased, characters falling over).
  • Mr Norton yells at and degrades Brian’s work, firing him.
  • A character falls off a ladder into a large box.
  • C.H.O.M.P.S. jumps over a car, causing a multiple-car accident, however, with no injury.
  • C.H.O.M.P.S. blasts through a brick wall, knocking a man over and covering him in paint.
  • Using a forklift, C.H.O.M.P.S. crushes a car with characters inside, in order to detain them for the police.
  • C.H.O.M.P.S. knocks over a van of burglars.

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:

  • Throughout the film, C.H.O.M.P.S. makes loud, unexpected noises for comedic effect (train horn, police sirens, whistling, brakes screeching, roaring).
  • Characters catch C.H.O.M.P.S. in a burlap sack, causing him to thrash around in distress and start making loud siren noises.
  • Brian pops C.H.O.M.P.S. head off to show that he is a robot.
  • C.H.O.M.P.S. is shown without fur as a very uncanny animatronic.

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:

  • C.H.O.M.P.S. jumps out of a window with an explosive in his mouth which explodes; he is shown lying on his side, appearing ‘dead’ with his electronic parts showing.
  • A real dog is surrounded my landmines and nearly gets blown up, however, C.H.O.M.P.S. saves him.

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:

  • Armed burglars hold a female character hostage, and multiple characters are held at gunpoint and mugged.
  • Throughout the film, characters attempt to break into homes, cars and a store.

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 noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Several characters are shown driving Ford trucks.
  • Characters are shown eating at Burger King.
  • Science Diet dog food is shown on a billboard.
  • Casey is shown carrying around and placing on a table an unopened can of Wilson tennis balls.
  • C.H.O.M.P.S. is shown operating a Yale branded forklift.
  • A Coca-Cola vending machine is shown.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A couple kiss multiple times.
  • A male character forcefully kisses his girlfriend to make her stop talking; this is portrayed as romantic.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • A character is shown smoking a cigar in multiple scenes.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • There is infrequent course language, including “smart-ass” and “shut up”.
  • There is one use of the word “shit”.
  • A character tells an elderly character “up your poop, granny”, and “you old bat”.

In a nutshell

C.H.O.M.P.S. is a slapstick comedy film that is filled with somewhat repetitive, cheesy sound effects and high-speed chases. While the storyline may be repetitive, C.H.O.M.P.S. is a fun, nostalgic film that is likely to appeal to older children. However, due to the criminal behaviour portrayed, mild coarse language and occasional scary scenes, this film is not suitable for children under 6 years and parental guidance is warranted for ages 6 to 9.

The main messages from this movie are that hard work can pay off if you keep trying in the face of adversity; and that being good trumps a life of crime.

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

  • Perseverance
  • Teamwork
  • Knowing your self-worth.

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

  • The film portrays the bigger corporation as the villain; what are some of the things that corporations do in real life that aren’t good?
  • Brian kisses Casey to make her stop talking. Why is this shown as romantic in this older movie, and why is this behaviour not okay?
  • Even though this movie is quite old, we use robots in a similar way to help us in everyday life. Is this always a good thing?
  • What are the ethical implications of programming a robot to be an animal?