Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches

image for Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches

Short takes

Not suitable under 4; parental guidance to 5 (mild violence, themes, scary scenes)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches
  • a review of Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 12 November 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 4 Not suitable due to mild violence, themes, and scary scenes.
Children aged 4–5 Parental guidance recommended due to mild violence, themes, and scary scenes.
Children aged 6 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: Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: Very mild animated violence, themes, coarse language, crude humour, fantasy themes, and scary scenes
Length: 58 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Once living together, the star-bellied and moon-bellied Sneetches now live apart; each convinced they are better than the other. The ‘stars’ live in trees, with the ‘moons’ out at sea. Stella Sneedly (voice of Amari McCoy), a young star-bellied Sneetch, questions the old beliefs that keep their worlds divided.

Defying her community, Stella heads to the forbidden beach, where she meets moon-bellied Sneetch Pearl Puddlesnuff (voice of Sophie Petersen). While Pearl is initially frightened and apprehensive to interact with Stella, the two quickly realise they have a lot in common and form a close friendship. Together, they create a machine that can swap the symbols on their bellies.

When Stella and Pearl cross into the other’s world, they cause the two groups to meet again. Conflict breaks out on the beach, but when a powerful storm hits, the Sneetches must decide whether to cling to their outdated beliefs or work together to survive.

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.

Racism; Natural disasters.

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 crab pinches a monkey and Sneetch with its claws.
  • The star and moon-bellied Sneetches meet on the beach, where they begin arguing and hurling accusations at each other.

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:

  • Stella flies using ‘kite wings’ before crashing into the ground, worrying Pearl and their pets.
  • Stella drives Pearl’s boat at dangerous speeds, almost crashing into other boats and Sneetches.

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:

  • A heavy thunderstorm causes trees to collapse.
  • A giant wave crashes over the Sneetches, who survive due to Stella and Pearl building a boat they shelter inside.
  • Stella is swept away by strong winds as she tries to fly during the thunderstorm.

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 further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches is a musical animated adaptation of the classic book by Dr Seuss. While the film takes inspiration from the original story, there are several key differences, most notably the removal of the class allegory between the star and plain-bellied Sneetches, as well as the absence of Sylvester McMonkey McBean and his capitalist profiteering from their conflict. Due to mild violence, themes, and scary scenes, the film is unsuitable for children under four, and parental guidance is recommended for children aged four to five.

The main message from this movie is a child-friendly critique of racial discrimination. The film asserts that no moon or star makes a Sneetch better – what matters is who they are on the inside.

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

  • Friendship
  • Acceptance
  • Inclusion
  • Cooperation
  • Curiosity
  • Open-mindedness.

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

  • Prejudice and discrimination.