Charming

image for Charming

Short takes

Parental guidance recommended under 6 due to violence and scary scenes. OK for 6 and up but is likely to lack interest for older children.

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Charming
  • a review of Charming completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 19 November 2018.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Parental guidance recommended due to some violence and scary scenes
Children 6 to 8 OK for this age group
Children 8 and over OK for this age group but may lack interest for older children

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: Charming
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Very mild themes and animated violence
Length: 85 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

When Prince Philippe Charming (voiced by Wilmer Valderrama) is born, he is cursed by a vengeful dark fairy, Nemeny Neverwish (voiced by Nia Vardalos), to be so charming that every woman who sees him falls desperately in love.  If he can’t find true love’s kiss by his 21st birthday, all love will disappear from the kingdom.

In the lead up to Prince Charming’s birthday, while he attempts to work out which princess to marry – Cinderella (voiced by Ashley Tisdale), Sleeping Beauty (voiced by G.E.M), or Snow White (voiced by Avril Lavigne) – he runs into escaping treasure thief, Lenore (voiced by Demi Lovato), who appears unaffected by his charms.  After being caught, Lenore strikes a deal with the guardians of the three princesses, to help the prince survive the ‘gauntlet’ of tasks he must complete to prove his love for them.  As they journey together, Lenore, in disguise as ‘Lenny,’ realises that she is falling in love with the prince.  In order to break the curse however, they must confess their love for each other before it’s too late. This is made all the more difficult by the increasing meddling by Nemeny Neverwish.

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.

Love; adventure; friendship

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:

  • A giant rock monster attacks and tries to crush Prince Charming and Lenore
  • There are sword and bow and arrow fights between characters – no one is harmed
  • Slapstick violence intended to be funny, in which characters are hit over the head by objects (e.g., pots and pans), fall from great heights, or smack into objects (e.g., rocks) but are unharmed. Prince Charming is also slapped in the face several times by a magical vine.
  • Three birds are shot by Lenore for dinner – arrow impact is not shown
  • Lenore knees Prince Charming in the groin

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.

  • Nemeny Neverwish is menacing and may frighten young children
  • A forest tribe of savage female giants, kidnaps Lenore and Prince Charming with plans to eat them, but they fall in love with the prince instead – Their appearance may frighten young children

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.

  • Prince Charming’s mother is said to have died prior to the events of the film
  • Prince Charming sentences himself to death to save the kingdom from his curse – He gets as far as to have the noose placed around his neck before being saved

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.

Nothing of concern

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

Nothing of concern

Sexual references

Prince Charming kisses many women on the lips

Nudity and sexual activity

A portrait of Prince Charming is visible, in which he has been painted in the style of The Birth of Venus

Use of substances

Nothing of concern

Coarse language

Nothing of concern

In a nutshell

Charming is an animated children’s film that aims to tell a traditional fairytale with a twist.  This film is suitable for children under 8, but will not interest most children above this age group due to its contrived plot,  and generally flat comedic moments.  In addition, the film has regular ‘freeze-frames’ in which the prince interjects with internal monologue that slows the plot. There are also regular musical interludes from various characters. These are pop-songs without particularly catchy melodies, which are unlikely to appeal to children. 

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

  • Friendship
  • Love is more important than material possessions

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

  • Stealing