Lady and the Tramp (2019)

image for Lady and the Tramp (2019)

Short takes

Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 7 (scary scenes, violence, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Lady and the Tramp (2019)
  • a review of Lady and the Tramp (2019) completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 26 August 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to scary scenes, violence and themes.
Children aged 6–7 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and themes.
Children aged 8 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: Lady and the Tramp (2019)
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Rated PG for some mild thematic elements and action/peril. Flashing light sequences may affect photosensitive viewers. (OC)
Length: 111 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Based on the Disney animated classic, this live-action remake retells the story of the pampered Spaniel named Lady (voice of Tessa Thompson) whose owners, Darling (Kiersey Clemons) and Jim Dear (Thomas Mann) have a baby, and her luxurious lifestyle shifts. After a fight with her dog-sitter’s cats, Lady is reprimanded and escapes onto the streets. Here, she befriends the tough street dog, ‘the Tramp’ (voice of Justin Theroux), as he promises to help her get back home. A romance blossoms between the two dogs but they must evade the persistent dog-catcher (Adrian Martinez). Before getting back to her owners and their new baby, Lady finds herself in the pound, and later, the Tramp engages in dramatic fights against the dog-catcher and a rat!

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.

Crime; Animal distress; Animal cruelty; Abandonment.

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 violence in this movie, including:

  • A chase scene between the Tramp and a man who falls badly and is injured.
  • Two cats chase a dog and damage the living room.
  • A rat jumps at and attacks the Tramp.
  • The Tramp attacks and kills a rat.
  • A baby’s crib is knocked over but the baby is fine.

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:

  • Scary dogs at the pound bark and growl at Lady.

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:

  • There is mention of “the one way door” at the pound, where dogs don’t come back.
  • Towards the end of the movie, the Tramp is injured and bleeding.

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.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • There is an accidental kiss between Lady and the Tramp while eating the same piece of spaghetti.

Use of substances

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

  • Jim Dear and his friends are drinking to celebrate the new baby.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • The dog-catcher calls the Tramp a “mangy, dangerous mutt”.
  • Dang it.

In a nutshell

Lady and the Tramp (2019) is a romantic, action-filled film based on the 1955 Disney classic by the same name. It is suitable for a family audience. A caution of mild violence and animal endangerment should be noted and warrants parental guidance from 6 to 7 years old. A note also to parents who are familiar with the original film, this adaptation has darker themes and is more intense due to the live-action and CGI stylings. The threats and evil characters in the live-action may appear more realistic and therefore feel more threatening to a young audience.

The main messages from this movie are that love transcends social boundaries; and family can be found in unlikely places.

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

  • Friendship
  • Teamwork
  • Inclusivity
  • Love
  • Trust
  • Loyalty.

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

  • Understanding that while sometimes mild violence in a movie is funny, if it happens in real life, it is not funny and somebody could be hurt.
  • The importance on not judging a book by its cover.
  • That animals should be treated kindly and respectfully.
  • Good vs Evil.