Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 7 (violence)
This topic contains:
Children under 5 | Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes. The plot may be confusing or uninteresting for this age group |
Children aged 5-7 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 8 and over | 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: | LEGO Movie, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild animated violence and crude humour |
Length: | 101 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The Lego Movie is an animated movie featuring popular Lego figures, such as Batman, Superman, Gandalf and Superwoman. The movie is based around an epic battle of good versus evil. It begins with the evil Lord Business (voiced by Will Ferrell) intent on dominating the Lego universe with his plan to freeze all Lego pieces with his deadly ‘Kragle’ substance. Master Builder Lord Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) knows that if he can find the ‘Piece of Resistance’ he will be able to stop the ‘Kragle’ from destroying the Lego world. However after the ‘Piece of Resistance’ is lost from him he has a vision, that one day a yellow-faced man, ‘the Special’, will find it and defeat Lord Business.
Meanwhile, in the current-day Lego world, an ordinary Lego man named Emmet (Chris Pratt) unsuspectingly stumbles upon the ‘Piece of Resistance’ one day at work. The Master Builder Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) observes Emmet with the Piece of Resistance and assumes he is ‘the Special’ that Lord Vitruvius visioned – the one destined to save them. Together Wyldstyle and Lord Vitruvius follow Emmet, believing in his ability to defeat the evil Lord Business and his followers led by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) before they destroy all of the Lego lands.
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.
Good versus evil; Family relationships; Some reference to torture.
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 of violence in this movie, all depicted through the use of Lego pieces. Examples include;
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, children of this age may be most concerned with seeing a variety of Lego pieces damaged or broken throughout the duration of the movie. Children are likely to become attached to certain characters and find their demise or torture upsetting.
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 scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could 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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There is some partial nudity in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language that children may imitate, including:
The LEGO Movie is an animated film based on, and promoting, the well known Lego construction toys. Some parents may have concerns about this very obvious promotion of a brand to their children.
Very young children, although they would recognise the toys, are likely to find the plot uninteresting or confusing. Younger children may be upset to see favourite characters in the film injured or destroyed, there is a tense scene involving a human boy and his demanding father and there is also reference to torture. The film is therefore not recommended for under fives, with parental guidance recommended for five to eight year olds.
The main message from this movie is that everyone is special if they just believe in themselves and their own special abilities. Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include loyalty and friendship
Parents of older children may wish to discuss why the father placed such importance on the Lego construction being perfect rather than playing with his son? What lesson did the father (and Lord Business) learn in the end?
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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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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