Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 12 (severely trivialised slapstick violence, coarse language, sexual references)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not suitable due to severely trivialised slapstick violence, coarse language, and some sexual references. |
Children aged 8–12 | Parental guidance recommended due to severely trivialised slapstick violence, coarse language, and some sexual references. |
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: | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Low level violence |
Length: | 100 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
One year after Kevin (Macauly Culkin) was accidentally left home alone, the McCallisters get ready for another Christmas family holiday – this time they are bound for Florida. Just like the year before, everyone oversleeps on the morning of departure, and they get into a hectic frenzy to not miss the plane. 10 year-old Kevin gets lost at the airport, and in a chain of crazy events he boards the wrong plane – bound for New York! Of course, resourceful and street-smart Kevin decides to make the best of it, and because he was carrying his Dad's bag including wallet and credit card, he is able to book himself into a luxurious suite in a fancy Manhattan hotel. Things get more complicated when a concierge notices that the credit card is registered as stolen. Terrified of getting arrested for credit card fraud, Kevin runs away to turn to an uncle who lives in New York but finds his house vacant and under renovation. To top things off, the same two criminals, Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), who tried to burgle Kevin's house the year before, have escaped prison and are also in New York, planning to rob a toy store. When Kevin learns about their plan, he decides to put a spoke in their wheel and get them arrested once more.
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.
Slapstick humour; Resourcefulness; Importance of friendship and family.
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 frequent and grossly trivialised slapstick violence in this movie including:
Parents should note: Harry and Marv miraculously get away with some minor cuts, burns, and bruises, and clearly don't get as seriously injured as one would expect if some of these things happened to someone in real life. In fact, it could be expected for some of the traps to be fatal. Kevin celebrates each blow triumphantly. These violent scenes are scripted to be funny, which trivialises and legitimises the use of violence.
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.
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There are some references to nudity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Like the predecessor, Home Alone, this sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, contains some positive messages. These messages fade into the background, however, next to the whole new level of slapstick violence compared to the first film. This is a different level because, firstly, this time, Kevin does not defend his own house that is being attacked, but maliciously lures the shenanigans into a house equipped with traps. Secondly, these traps are not harmless little boy pranks, but in real life, could very well kill someone, many times over. This gross trivialisation and legitimisation of violence makes the film unsuitable for a young audience, and parents should provide guidance and encourage a discussion with their children, aged 8 and over, how Kevin could have dealt with the situation differently.
The main message from this movie is that the end justifies the means (in a very doubtful way) and that family and friends are important.
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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