Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 9 (scary scenes, themes, violence)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not suitable due to scary scenes, themes and violence. |
Children aged 8–9 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes, themes and violence. |
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: | Imaginary, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild animated violence, themes, fantasy themes and scary scenes |
Length: | 110 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Amanda (voice of Evie Kiszel) lives with her Mum Lizzie (Hayley Atwell) following the recent death of her father. Amanda has a vivid imagination in which her imaginary friend Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan) lives. They go on many adventures together across oceans, through the sky and to other lands. No-one else can see Rudger, however, Amanda and Rudger are threatened by a villainous Mr Bunting (Jeremy Swift) and a creepy girl who accompanies him. Mr Bunting can smell Rudger and wants to devour him.
Rudger becomes separated from Amanda after an unfortunate event and he is at risk of disappearing, which is what happens to all imaginary friends when their creator no longer needs them. Rudger is saved from this by a cat called Zinzan (Karl Penn) who takes him to a library where all the ‘imaginaries’ who are no longer needed live. They work and play there until some of them are lucky enough to be wanted by a human. Rudger, however, is determined not to give up on Amanda.
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.
Fantasy; Loss of a parent; Imaginary friends.
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.
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The Imaginary is an animated fantasy movie based on the premise that children’s imaginations are quite vivid and can be both comforting and frightening. It’s unfortunate that the distinction between the imaginary and the real world is not clear and young children are likely to be quite frightened by this movie. It also involves the loss of a parent which is quite emotive. It is therefore more suited to older children and parental guidance is recommended for 8 to 9-year-olds.
The main messages from this movie are to protect those close to you; and that libraries are great places to explore imaginary worlds.
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
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