Jingle All The Way

image for Jingle All The Way

Short takes

Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 9 (violence, adult themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Jingle All The Way
  • a review of Jingle All The Way completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 4 December 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to violence and adult themes.
Children aged 8–9 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and adult themes.
Children aged 10 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

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: Jingle All The Way
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Low level violence
Length: 82 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Jamie Langston (Jake Lloyd) is a typical young boy who loves superheroes and, in particular, ‘Turbo Man’. His father Howard (Arnold Schwarzenegger) promises to get him a Turbo Man doll for Christmas but, as is usual for Howard, forgets all about it until just before Christmas day when reminded by his long-suffering wife Liz (Rita Wilson). Howard rushes to the shops to discover that he is one of many desperate parents trying to find a Turbo Man doll. Chaos and fights erupt between greedy parents. Howard is followed everywhere by another, even more desperate, dad, Myron (Sinbad).

Howard gives up at the end of a long day and returns home to keep at least one promise to his son, to attend the annual Christmas Parade. Along the way, however, he’s dragged inside a garage where he’s mistaken as the fill-in guy for Turbo Man who has been taken sick. As Turbo Man, Howard loves being the centre of attention, waving to all his adoring fans. He has the task of choosing a lucky bystander to gift a super-charged Turbo Man doll. Howard, of course, chooses Jamie. Myron then appears on the scene as Turbo Man’s archenemy, ‘Dementor’, and a real-life superhero fight breaks out, with Jamie having to escape the clutches of Dementor. In the end, when Jamie discovers the identity of Turbo Man, he gives away his prize to Myron as he now has the real thing at home.

Themesinfo

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.

Superheroes; Consumerism.

Use of violenceinfo

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 quite a lot violence in this movie, mostly done for laughs. Some examples include:

  • A rather aggressive reindeer takes a disliking to Howard and bites him.
  • A crowd stampedes into a shop, stepping over the shopkeeper. Howard crashes into the shelves, knocking everything down. Fights break out amongst the customers.
  • Howard’s neighbour Ted burns his fingers on the stove.
  • Howard chases a child who has a lottery ball and ends up in a ball pit with the child. Several mothers hit Howard over the head with their bags.
  • Howard goes into a Santa workshop with many Santas. Howard hits one of them and then a fight breaks out against all of the Santas. One large Santa takes off his shirt to confront Howard and they punch each other.
  • The police arrive, on several occasions, wielding guns.
  • Liz hits Ted over the head with a thermos.
  • Howard breaks into Ted’s house to steal his Turbo Man doll but has second thoughts. He accidentally drops another present into a fire, causing it to set alight. Ted, the reindeer, comes in and attacks Howard who punches it in the face.
  • In the final scene, Dementor kicks Booster off the float and grabs Jamie, who kicks him where it hurts. Dementor chases after Jamie, who climbs to the top of a Christmas tree on top of a roof. The tree starts to collapse under the weight and Dementor steals Jamie’s doll. Jamie falls to the ground but is saved by Turbo Man flying through space.

Other violence includes:

  • Jamie watches superheroes on TV, flying through space, shooting lasers, kicking and punching. One of the baddies grabs a child and dangles him over a cliff, drops him and he is rescued by Turbo Man.
  • Jamie has a fight with his friend next door.
  • Myron threatens a radio station DJ with a bomb. It’s a hoax but later when he tries it again with the police, the bomb actually goes off, leaving the police chief covered in soot.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

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:

  • The sight of many Santas, and some of them quite aggressive, is likely to upset children in this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

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:

  • The reindeer is quite aggressive.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

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:

  • Ted, the next-door neighbour, pretends to be a perfect father while trying to entice Liz. He’s always trying to impress her with his domestic skills. However, Ted’s son says that his dad wasn't such a good dad before he and his mum got a divorce.

Thirteen and overinfo

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.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Crayola Crayons.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Myron talks about a woman who has slept with everyone at the Post Office, except for him.
  • Ted gets a reindeer for his son, who calls him Ted after his dad. Jamie tells Howard that his mum is next door petting Ted (the reindeer).
  • Ted puts his arm around Liz and tells her they can’t keep hiding their feelings any longer and that he’s liked her for a long time.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Myron and Howard slip some alcohol into their coffees. Myron then drinks out of the bottle. Howard has a vision of Jamie drinking out of a bottle too.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Damn it
  • What the heck
  • Shut Up
  • Screw it up
  • Lord no
  • Son of a …….
  • Arse
  • Jeez.

In a nutshell

Jingle All The Way is a comedy about Christmas and the desperation many parents feel at this time to please their children. However, it focuses on the worst aspects of Christmas – greed and consumerism. The film’s saving grace is Jamie giving away his much longed for toy and realising that what he really wanted all along was his father’s time and attention. Though, there are also some adult themes and innuendo, making the film unsuitable for children under 8. Parental guidance is also recommended for 8 to 9 year olds.

The main messages from this movie are to always keep your promises if you want to keep your friends; and that love and attention are more important than material possessions.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Redemption and forgiveness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • What is the real reason for Christmas? Originally, it was about joy and peace, kindness and goodwill. This movie could give the opportunity for parents to discuss their own beliefs about Christmas and what’s important to them.