Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Viol. Theme. Sex. Lang.)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to violence, themes, sexual references and coarse language. |
Children aged 8-13 | Parental guidance recommended due to themes, sexual references 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: | Deck the Halls |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild sexual references, Mild themes and coarse language |
Length: | 106 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Steve (Matthew Broderick) and wife Kelly (Kristin Davis) Finch lead a nice, orderly life with their two adolescent children, 15 year old Madison (Alia Shawkat) and 10 year old Carter (Dylan Blue) in a nice, neat neighbourhood. However their order is seriously disrupted when new neighbours Buddy (Danny De Vito) and Tia (Kristin Chenoweth) Hall move in across the road with their twin, teenage daughters. It soon becomes very obvious that the Halls are the exact opposite of the Finches.
Buddy gets a job as a used car salesman as he’s very good at selling things, but he’s still trying to find his niche in life. As it’s approaching Christmas Buddy starts decorating his house with lights. This turns into an obsession when he decides he wants his house to be bright enough to be seen from space. The Finch family is naturally very put out about this, as not only is their sleep interrupted by the bright lights and accompanying loud music, but also because Steve has always been known in the town as “the Christmas Guy”.
What ensues is a fierce competition between Buddy and Steve while the remaining family members make friends. This doesn’t please Steve either as he doesn’t like the influence the Hall family is having on his children, whom he has reared very strictly. The Halls on the other hand, have looser moral standards, particularly when it comes to following the law. The lead up to Christmas becomes more and more tense until finally Kelly and Tia can’t take anymore and they have to move out to make their husbands see sense.
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.
Unlawful behaviour
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 slapstick 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 is one scene that could disturb children under the age of eight, in which Buddy mentions that, while moving into the house, he dropped a refrigerator on a cat.
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 may also be disturbed or scared by the scenes mentioned above.
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.
It is unlikely that anything in this movie would scare or disturb children over the age of eight.
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.
It is unlikely that anything in this movie would scare or disturb children over the age of thirteen.
None of concern.
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
None of concern.
Some drinking of alcohol at home and on the street.
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Deck the Halls is a family Christmas movie that few will find amusing. It is full of stereotypes and lacks imagination. The movie is supposed to be about the true meaning of Christmas but is not convincing.
The movie portrays law abiding citizens as dull and boring while people who skirt around the law are seen to be funny and more likeable. Buddy commits several crimes which are presented as being funny and go unpunished:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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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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