Not suitable under 15; parental guidance to 15 (violence, scary scenes, coarse language)
This topic contains:
Children under 15 | Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes and coarse language. |
Children aged 15 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence, scary scenes and coarse language. |
Children aged 16 and over | Ok for this age group, although parental guidance is recommended due to violence, scary scenes and coarse language. |
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: | Child’s Play |
Classification: | MA15+ |
Consumer advice lines: | Strong horror themes and violence |
Length: | 90 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
A Vietnamese factory worker is belittled, humiliated and fired but not before, in a last act of defiance, he removes all the safety settings on the Buddi doll he is building. Meanwhile in the United States a lonely kid named Andy (Gabriel Bateman) has just moved into a new neighbourhood and is having trouble making friends. When a defective Buddi doll is returned to the store where Andy’s mum Karen (Aubrey Plaza) works she brings it home for her son. At first Andy isn’t impressed but the doll, self-named Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill), keeps trying to show that he cares for Andy and a friendship of sorts is born. When the other kids see how unique Chucky is and how he is capable of learning whatever they teach him, no matter how inappropriate it may be, Andy finds himself with real friends Pug (Ty Consiglio) and Falyn (Beatrice Kitsos) who are there to help Andy when the killings begin. Together they hide the evidence of what is happening and try to destroy Chucky before he can kill everyone that Andy cares about.
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.
Consumerism, fears of social isolation, the complexities of friendship, the battle of good vs. evil.
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:
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.
Many of the above mentioned scenes could also frighten children over the age of thirteen.
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:
Child’s Play is a horror film. A remake of the 1980’s slasher movie bearing the same name this latest version stands on its own. It is fast paced, the characters are well developed and while it will appeal to Chucky fans or those who love horror movies this is not a film for children or young teens.
The main messages from this movie are that true friendship and human interaction are important and cannot be made or replaced by robotics, that violence is easily learned and perpetrated and that ultimately good will triumph 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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