Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

image for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Short takes

Not suitable under 11; parental guidance to 12 (violence, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
  • a review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 14 May 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 11 Not suitable due to high level of violence and themes.
Children aged 11–12 Parental guidance recommended due to high level of violence.
Children aged 13 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: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Science fiction themes and violence
Length: 145 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Many years after the death of Caesar, the apes have developed into several clans, while the humans are living a feral life. Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee from the Eagle clan, undertakes a coming-of-age ritual with his friends, Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham), to gather eagles’ eggs to take back to their clan. The Eagle clan is led by Noa’s father, Koro (Neil Sandilands). On returning to their clan, the three friends are followed by a human girl. Noa confronts the girl and a tussle occurs that results in the breaking of Noa’s egg. He must return to find another but, while he’s away, his clan is attacked by a large and intimidating ape named Sylva (Eka Darville) with his masked followers. Noa’s village is burnt to the ground and all of his clan are captured, while Koro is killed.

Noa sets out on a journey to find his clan and along the way he meets a wise Orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon) who teaches Noa about Caesar’s enlightened ways. They discover the girl is still following and Raka shows her compassion. They name her Nova, but her real name is Mae (Freya Allen), and they are surprised to discover she can speak. Mae promises to take them to where Noa’s clan is being held captive by another large ape who has proclaimed himself to be Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). Proximus is keeping the apes to work as slaves, attempting to open a vault that holds many of the original human race’s technological secrets. Mae has her own reasons to enter the vault but she needs to keep Noa on her side as they battle against Proximus and his large army.

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.

Science Fiction; The fall of the human race; Animals and humans in peril.

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 a lot of violence in this movie, including:

  • Noa is attacked by an eagle, causing him to lose his grip, and he falls from the top of a mountain but manages to hang on to a tree branch.
  • Sylva and his tribe attack Noa’s village, setting it on fire and throwing spears. Dead apes are seen lying on the ground and an ape is seen with a knife in his back before he falls to the ground, dead.
  • One of Sylva’s tribe spears Noa’s horse.
  • A large fireball lands next to Noa but he is unhurt. Sylva attacks Noa with an electric prod. Sylva then confronts Koro and they fight. Sylva uses the electric prod on Koro and Noa joins the fight. Noa is squashed to the ground, unable to breathe, when Koro jumps on Sylva to release him. Sylva retaliates, viciously thumping Koro and kills him. Sylva physically throws Noa out to the way. Noa falls to the valley floor and is seen with blood on his face.
  • Noa falls into a trap at the bottom of which is a fire burning. He’s injured by the fall.
  • Sylva and his masked warriors chase after the humans and capture them with nets. Several people are knocked down in the chase.
  • Sylva attacks Noa, Raka and Mae, and Mae is pushed into a fast-flowing river. Raka jumps in to save her, but perishes himself.
  • Mae attacks and kills another human who is about to betray her.
  • Proximus and his tribe attack Noa and his friends after they manage to open the door of the vault from the inside. Proximus has Noa tied up and holds a knife to his throat. Mae shoots at the ape holding Noa and kills him.
  • Mae sets off a huge explosion that destroys the sea wall, resulting in water pouring into the vault. Many apes are seen being washed away in the fast-moving water. Sylva chases after Noa and they fight underwater. Sylva is seen trapped and drowning.
  • Noa and his eagle clan escape to higher ground, only to find Proximus waiting for them there. Proximus attacks Noa and viciously thumps him, throws and drags him. Noa has blood on his face and is choking.
  • Noa calls to his eagle friends, who attack Proximus, pecking and biting at him. Proximus falls off the cliff into the sea.

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 large apes, Proximus and Sylva are very scary-looking animals. They are fierce and dangerous creatures.
  • The eagles are quite intimidating, especially while they are protecting their eggs.

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:

  • At the start of the movie, a funeral is being held for a dead ape (Caesar) where he is seen lying prostrate and covered in flowers. His funeral pyre is set alight.
  • Noa has to return to the woods at night where he is scared and alone. He hears lots of strange sounds and sees people fighting during a lightning strike.
  • Sylva and his tribe are large apes who wear masks and are quite terrifying.
  • Noa enters the forbidden ‘Valley Beyond’, which is a desolate place. A stormy wind howls and Noa is afraid.
  • Mae cries when she sees other humans like herself, dirty and drinking from a lagoon.
  • Anaya, Soona and Noa, carrying Mae, climb a cliff face when Noa slips and nearly falls. They reach the top and enter the vault, which has long, dark corridors. They light the way with flaming torches.

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:

  • Noa sees his clan tied together in ropes – he tries to free them.
  • Noa cries when he finds his father is dead.
  • Noa, Raka and Mae cross a large bridge over a fast-flowing river. Foreboding music plays and they realise they’ve walked into a trap by Sylva.
  • Noa and Mae are captured by Sylva and are seen tied in ropes, walking to their destination. There they meet Proximus, a very large ape, who is keeping many apes in captivity. Noa finds his clan there but sees that they are all forced to work hard, like slaves, to try and open a huge vault. Horses are also made to work hard, pulling chains.

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

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Shit.

In a nutshell

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a science fiction, dystopian action movie. The representation of the apes is amazingly realistic, while the theory of humans being reduced to lower than the apes by a Simian Flu is quite disturbing. The Eagle clan try to follow Caesar’s law, that apes should not kill other apes, but not all ape clans do. Younger viewers will find the movie quite scary and it is therefore unsuitable for under 10’s, and aimed more for older teens and adults.

The main messages from this movie are that good overcomes evil; and to fight for your own beliefs.

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

  • Caesar led with decency, morality, strength and compassion, which are all good values to follow.
  • Bravery and courage.
  • Friendship.
  • Working together.
  • Tolerance.
  • Kindness.

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

  • Why the apes have separated into different tribal groups and why Proximus holds so much power over many of the tribes.
  • Why the human tendency of evil rulers wanting to dominate everybody has taken hold in the ape kingdom.