Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 9 (violence, scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 6 | Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 6–9 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 10 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: | How to Train Your Dragon |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild fantasy violence |
Length: | 98 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Young Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) dreams of being a true Viking, killing dragons and defending his people. His father Stoick (Gerard Butler) is the leader of the Vikings. He is the strongest and most fearless of them all, while Hiccup is a scrawny youth who feels he will never be worthy of his father’s attention or praise.
Hiccup’s life changes when tries out one of the inventions he has been working on and manages to take down a Night Fury, the one dragon that has never been seen and that is believed to be the most dangerous of all. No one believes him when he tells them what he has done, but when his father goes off with a fleet of ships in search of the dragon’s nest Hiccup sets off to find the dragon that fell from the sky. On the brink of giving up, Hiccup stumbles across the trapped and injured creature that is more magnificent and terrifying than anything he has ever imagined.
When faced with the chance to kill the dragon Hiccup finds that he cannot. Instead he slowly befriends the creature, whom he calls Toothless. When Hiccup discovers that Toothless cannot fly he fashions a prosthetic tail, teaches Toothless to fly again and, in the process, discovers that everything his people know about dragons is wrong.
Hiccup begins to win the respect of the Viking village as they watch him control dragons with the little tricks he has learned. More importantly he begins to get noticed by Astrid (America Ferrera) who is an aspiring dragon slayer on whom he has a huge crush.
Stoick is furious when he learns that his son will not kill dragons and launches a mammoth attack on the dragon’s lair. Hiccup and Toothless now have to show the villagers, and also the dragons, what can be accomplished by simply working together.
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.
Cruelty to animals; Family breakdown.
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.
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 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 is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some name calling in the film, including:
How to Train Your Dragon is a computer generated animated adventure featuring fantastic special effects, especially in relation to the facial expressions and personalities of the dragons. The plot is predictable yet intriguing and, while the violent content limits its suitability for younger viewers it is certainly a film that families with older children can enjoy together.
The main messages from this movie are
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
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
Children and Media Australia (CMA) is a registered business name of the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM).
CMA provides reviews, research and advocacy to help children thrive in a digital world.
ACCM is national, not-for-profit and reliant on community support. You can help.
ABN: 16 005 214 531