Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 8 (themes, scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 6 | Not recommended due to themes and some disturbing scenes. |
Children aged 6–8 | Parental guidance recommended due to themes. |
Children aged 9 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: | Inside Out |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes |
Length: | 102 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Inside Out is an animated comedy that follows Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias), a young girl who is uprooted from her life in the Midwest when her father gets a new job in San Francisco.
Riley is largely guided by her emotions, each of which is shown as an individual character within her own mind: Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness (voiced by Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, and Mindy Kaling). These emotions reside in a place known as the Headquarters, the control centre of Riley’s mind, and help to advise her during her day-to-day life. Each emotion has a particular purpose. Joy tries to maintain happiness in Riley’s life, Fear keeps her safe, Disgust prevents her from suffering physically and socially, Anger ensures fairness, while Sadness does not believe she has a purpose and stays in the background much of the time.
The film sees Riley endure great difficulties as she attempts to adjust to living her new life. Her emotions try to keep things running smoothly, but it is not until Sadness realises that she serves a very real and important purpose in Riley’s life that things can begin moving in a positive direction.
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.
Emotions; family relationships; personal growth.
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 minimal violence within the film, 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.
Younger children in this age group may also be scared by some of the above-mentioned scenes and worried when Riley thinks about running away.
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.
Nothing further noted.
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Inside Out is an interesting and emotionally intense animated comedy with a complex story. Through the experiences of an 11-year-old girl, the film shows that it is important for a person to experience a full range of emotions – even negative ones such as sadness. They not only allow individuals to appreciate the positive times, but also help to enrich life. Emotions also serve as catalysts for others to provide care and attention, particularly within situations where an individual may not be able to ask for what they need.
The complexity of the story makes it more suited to children aged 9 and over. Younger children may be confused by references to abstract thoughts and the subconscious, and by emotions being shown as actual characters. There are also some scenes that might scare younger children. The film is therefore not recommended for children under 6, with parental guidance recommended for the 6 to 9 age group.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
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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