Not suitable under 13; parental guidance recommended 13-15 (violence; Disturbing scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 13 | Not suitable due to violence and disturbing scenes |
Children 13 to 15 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes |
Children 15 and over | OK for this age group |
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: | Fantastic Four (2015) |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Fantasy themes and violence |
Length: | 100 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
In the opening scenes of the film we find 10-year-old Reed Richards (Owen Judge) and his best friend Ben Grimm (Evan Hannemann) pooling their resources in a bid to build a bio-matter transport machine. By the time Reed (Miles Teller) and Ben (Jamie Bell) reach high school, several years later, the two friends have perfected their transport machine, transporting small toys to unknown locations and back again. When Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) from the Baxter Institute sees Reed’s machine at a school science fair he is so impressed by Reed’s invention that he offers Reed a full scholarship to the Baxter Institute in Manhattan.
When Reed arrives at the Institute he is introduced to fellow students Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), Sue Storm (Kate Mara) and Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), who have also been working on a teleportation machine without Reed’s level of success. The Institute students have, however, discovered that what is sent through the machine does not reappear in an unknown location somewhere on Earth, but reappears in another dimension. The four young inventors work together and before long have managed to build an Interdimensional Bio-Matter Transporter.
Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Victor use the machine to travel to another dimension where they encounter a strange energy source which threatens their lives and consumes Victor. When Reed, Ben and Johnny return to their own dimension they find themselves, along with Sue Storm, changed forever. They now acquire distinct superpowers and become the Fantastic Four, but are soon put to the test when Victor returns from the other reality bent on destroying the world.
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.
Superpowers; inter-dimensional travel; world destruction
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.
Fantastic Four contains action violence (at times intense) throughout, some mass destruction, multiple deaths, occasional brief depiction of graphic blood and gore, some gun related violence, brief images of battle-like violence and a dangerous car chase. Examples include:
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.
Most of this movie would scare children in this age group including:
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.
Children in this age group are also likely to be scared by the above-mentioned violent and disturbing scenes.
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.
Younger children in this age group may also likely to be scared by the above-mentioned violent and disturbing scenes.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
None of concern
Very mild flirting
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
The film contains medium level coarse language and name calling scattered throughout. Examples include:
Fantastic Four is a science fiction action film from Marvel featuring young versions of the popular comic book characters and likely to appeal to teenagers. Although the film contains less violence than most other Marvel superhero films, it does contain violence that is brutal and bloody and so deserves its M rating. There are some gruesome scenes of transformation, injury and death that could be very disturbing for children under 13 and some younger teens.
The main messages from this movie are:
Parents may also wish to discuss the way in which the film depicts the consequences resulting from the three superheroes becoming drunk.
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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