Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Violence; Scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children aged 8-13 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children over the age of 13 | 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: | Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild violence and scary scenes |
Length: | 97 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Brothers Kludd (voice of Ryan Kwanten) and Soren (Jim Sturgess) are raised on the legendary stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole and their epic battles against the forces of darkness. Soren loves these legends, he dreams of them, re-enacts them with his little sister Eglantine (Adrienne DeFaria) and can see himself as part of them. Kludd on the other hand thinks of them as little more than stupid fairy tales, told to entertain little owlets, and nothing more.
The brothers are put to the test when they are kidnapped by henchmen for the Pure Ones – a group of evil elitist owls who are abducting owlets from all regions in order to create a brainwashed army of vengeful “orphans” who will help them conquer the Guardians of Ga’Hoole once and for all. Soren, who befriends and defends a weaker owl named Gylfie (Emily Barclay), is forced to become a “picker”, a brainwashed zombie scrounging through old owl pellets to find bits of metal and Kludd, who callously denies his brother, becomes a favourite soldier.
Soren and Gylfie fight the effects of the brainwashing and are helped by one of the henchmen in a daring bid to escape. Once they are free they must find the legendary island of Ga’Hoole and enlist the Guardians to fight the Pure Ones and their forces of darkness once more. Along the way they are joined by Twilight (Anthony LaPaglia) and Digger (David Wenham) two owls who help them on their quest and who provide support when all hope seems lost.
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.
Kidnapping; sibling rivalry; supremacist beliefs
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:
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.
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:
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.
Children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the above mentioned scenes.
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.
Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film.
None
None of concern
None of concern
None of concern
None of concern
Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole is an intense animated adventure with some very good special effects. Based on the books by Katherine Lasky, it appears to be a children’s film but is too dark and disturbing for young children.
The main messages from this movie are to believe in yourself, to trust in your dreams and to remember that just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as
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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