Madagascar
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Due to violent scenes and mature themes, this film is not recommended for children under the age of 8. |
Children aged 8-13 | Parental guidance may be required for some children between the ages of 8 - 13. |
Children over the age of 13 | Children over the age of 13 could see this film with or without parental guidance. |
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: | Madagascar |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Not recommended under 8s, PG to 13 (Viol. Themes) |
Length: | 86 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Madagascar is the story of four friends living a pampered life at the Central Park Zoo. Marty, a free-spirited zebra, dreams of one day returning to the wild, while his best friend Alex, a spotlight loving Lion, relishes the fame and luxury afforded him by the zoo. Gloria, a practical and pragmatic hippopotamus, and Melman, a hypochondriac giraffe, often find themselves caught in the middle while trying to support both friends.
The adventure begins when, after his tenth birthday, Marty decides to sneak out of the zoo and get a small taste of freedom on the streets of New York. His three friends discover that he is missing and set out to find him. This stunt eventually lands all four friends aboard a steamship destined for a wildlife reserve in Kenya. They never reach their destination, as their containers are flung overboard in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Washing up on the shores of Madagascar, the friends must come to terms with the fact that they are now on their own. Once they are finally able to put their differences aside and work together, the four learn valuable lessons about both freedom and friendship.
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 frequent violence in this movie, some set in a comic context and some not. Parents are reminded that although comic violence may appear benign, and children often enjoy it, over-exposure to comic violence can lead children to believe that violence doesn’t really hurt. Examples of violent scenes 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 scenes, there are a few potentially disturbing scenes in this film, including:
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 could also be disturbed by the above mentioned scenes.
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.
Some children aged eight to thirteen could be disturbed by 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.
There is nothing in this film that would frighten children over the age of thirteen.
There are two scenes with sexual references:
There is no nudity or sexual activity in this movie.
There are two implicit references to alcohol:
While the film contains no course language it does contain a small amount of name calling.
The movie’s main message is that freedom can have a price and that most things in life worth having lose their value when you have no one to share them with. Some values and issues that parents may wish to discuss with their children are: friendship, loyalty, the predatory instincts of animals and what it means to be truly free. Parents may also wish to remind parents that violence does actually hurt.
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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
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ABN: 16 005 214 531