Kath and Kimderella

image for Kath and Kimderella

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Not recommended under 10 (lack of interest, themes, coarse language, PG to 14 (coarse language, sexual references)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Kath and Kimderella
  • a review of Kath and Kimderella completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 11 September 2012.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 10 Not recommended due to lack of interest, themes and coarse language.
Children 10-14 Not recommended due to coarse language and sexual references.
Children 15 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: Kath and Kimderella
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild coarse language and nudity
Length: 86 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Kath and Kimderella is a movie featuring the well loved Australian TV characters, Kath and Kim. When Kath (Jane Turner) wins a holiday for two to Italy in a local competition, she hopes that husband Kel (Glenn Robbins) will go with her for a trip of a lifetime. Kel, however, has a fear of flying which prevents him from going and Kath reluctantly invites her daughter Kim (Gina Riley) to join her. Sharon (Magda Szubanski), Kim’s second best friend, agrees to come to help with the bags!

When the three women arrive in Papilloma, their holiday destination, they find it is not quite what they had imagined, with poverty rife and their accommodation abandoned.  The trio stumble upon new accommodation in the King of Papilloma’s castle where they are welcomed with a royal reception.  The bankrupt King sees Kim as the answer to his financial woes when he mistakes her for a wealthy Australian with royal blood.

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.

None of concern

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 some use of violence in this movie, including:

  • Kel and the King duel with swords over Kath.  No one is hurt and the fighting is stylised and unrealistic.
  • The Queen, who has been locked up in the castle because she is ‘crazy’ sets the castle on fire and is hit by a large chandelier and killed.
  • One of the maids attempts to kill Kim a few times - eg by trying to push a boulder over on her and shooting her with an arrow - however the attempts are unsuccessful.

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.

There are scenes that are likely to scare or disturb children of this age, including;

  • Kath, Kim and Sharon stay in an old castle which seems to be haunted.  There are scary noises and moving eyes in the paintings. It is later found that the castle is not haunted but that the Queen, who is ‘crazy’ is watching Kath, Kim and Sharon. 
  • The Queen sets fire to the castle and is seen surrounded by fire and cackling wickedly.

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.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above mentioned scenes.

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.

Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes.

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 of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Nature’s Own
  • Terry Pattison Chemists
  • New Idea Magazine
  • Red Dog movie
  • Masterchef  TV series
  • Nandos
  • Croc shoes

Sexual references

There are a lot of sexual references and innuendo in this movie, including:

  • Kim’s real father flirts with a woman, referring to the pool hose as his penis
  • References to Sharon being gay, including other women flirting with Sharon, and some play on words about her being gay
  • The King refers to gay men in a derogatory manner

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • a few scenes where Kel is seen in the nude from behind
  • people seen from behind wearing underwear or very short shorts
  • Kel sees a therapist for his fear of flying. He is hypnotised and when he wakes he is nude and so is the therapist, who is seen fully nude from behind.

Use of substances

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

  • Adults drink wine at dinner
  • Kim and Sharon go out clubbing and return quite drunk after having a number of cocktails.  They are stumbling and slurring their words.
  • Kath and the King smoke on a number of occasions

Coarse language

There is some coarse language and put downs in this movie, including:

  • bloody idiot
  • suck it up Dad
  • ‘fuck’ is mouthed a number of times
  • donkey root
  • bitches
  • dickhead
  • arsehole
  • ho
  • ‘Eff Off’ written on Kim’s shirt

In a nutshell

Kath and Kimderella is a movie comedy derived from the well-loved Australian television sitcom, Kath and Kim.   The main messages from this movie are about being happy with the life that you have and valuing existing relationships.

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

  • democracy
  • equality
  • loyalty

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

  • Revolution - Why was what Kim did at the end of the movie important for the people of Papilloma?  Why did the King treat his people so poorly? 
  • Friendship - Do you think Kim and Sharon’s friendship is a healthy one?  Why do you think Sharon lets Kim treat her the way she does?