Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 12 (themes, violence, scary scenes, mild coarse language)
This topic contains:
Children under 10 | Not suitable due to themes, violence, scary scenes, mild coarse language. |
Children aged 10–12 | Parental guidance recommended due to themes, violence, scary scenes, mild coarse language. |
Children aged 13 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: | Finding 'Ohana |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes |
Length: | 121 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Pili (Kea Peahu) and Ioane “E” (Alex Aiono) live in New York with their mother, Leilani (Kelly Hu). When Leilani’s father, Kimo (Branscombe Richmond), has a heart attack, the family flies to their native home of O'ahu, Hawaii to support with his health and financial problems. Soon after their arrival, Pili sneaks into Kimo’s art studio, where she finds the diary of Monks (Ricky Garcia), a sailor who documented his crew’s journey to O'ahu, and the treasure they hid away. Pili is almost caught but is saved by a local boy named Casper (Owen Vaccaro). Meanwhile, E meets a local girl named Hana (Lindsay Watson) and is immediately infatuated with her.
Kimo discovers Pili with the diary. Though initially upset, he takes Pili to explore the island. However, Kimo ends up falling and breaks a rib. Pili feels responsible for Kimo’s injury and decides to seek out the lost treasure to make up for it. Pili and Casper sneak off, with E and Hana chasing them down.
Following the directions of the diary, the gang of four navigates through the challenges of the treasure cave, including the ‘Jaws of Death’, venomous spiders, and underwater tunnels. They make it through the trials and find the treasure. However, the treasure is stored in a sacred tomb. By taking the treasure, they summon the ‘Nightmarchers’, the deadly ghosts of ancient tribal Hawaiian warriors. Subsequently, they offer the treasure back to the Nightmarchers and are spared their lives. In the end, the family chooses to stay in Hawaii and reconnect with their cultural roots.
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.
Family death; Family arguments and fighting; Injury; Illness; Crime.
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.
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 coarse language in this movie, including:
Finding 'Ohana is an adventurous film that gives the audience insight about Hawaiian language and culture. Though the cultural appreciation and key messages of the film are positive, the themes, scary scenes, violence and language make the film best suited to teens and up, with parental guidance recommended for children aged 10 to 12.
The main messages from this movie are the importance of family and embracing one’s cultural heritage. Additionally, the movie emphasises the need for resilience and perseverance to overcome challenges and achieve goals.
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
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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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