Maya the Bee Movie

image for Maya the Bee Movie

Short takes

Parental guidance recommended under 6 due to some scary scenes

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Maya the Bee Movie
  • a review of Maya the Bee Movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 3 November 2014.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Parental guidance recommended due to some scary scenes
Children aged 6 and over OK for this age group, although over 10s may find the film boring

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: Maya the Bee Movie
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: None
Length: 84 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Maya the Bee (voiced by Coco Jack Gillies) is an adventurous and fun-loving little bee who doesn’t want to follow the rules of her hive. When Maya is banished from the hive, she and her best friend Willy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) must learn to survive outside the hive in the meadow. With help from a friendly grass-hopper named Flip (Richard Roxburgh), Maya and Willy learn that the other bugs are actually friendly and not to be feared.

Back at the hive, the Queen Bee’s (Miriam Margolyes) royal jelly is stolen and the hive blames the hornets, who are the bees’ worst enemies. It is up to Maya and her new found friends to save the queen and prevent the bees and the hornets from having a nasty battle.

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.

Death of the Queen Bee; separation from a parent; soldiers and battles; crime

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:

  • The bees and hornets both have soldiers who try to fight each other. The bees have sharp leaves which they use as spears and the hornets fire spit balls at the bees.
  • Hornets yell and push each other
  • A hornet threatens Maya with his stinger
  • Bats and frogs try to attack and eat Willy and Maya

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 hornets, frogs and bats are scary and may be frightening. The hornets and bats have sharp teeth and are aggressive
  • During their first night out in the meadow Maya and Willy are scared by sharp plants that try to attack them
  • Queen Bee is dying and this might be upsetting for younger children
  • Maya is locked in prison and starts crying because she is alone
  • All the bugs are scared of Gorgo the hedge monster. There are some scary scenes of him in the shadows but it turns out he is a friendly scarecrow.
  • Willy falls to the ground and looks hurt, Maya starts crying but he is okay.

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.

Some of the younger children in this group may be scared by some of the above-mentioned scenes.

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 of concern

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 of concern

Product placement

None found

Sexual references

None found

Nudity and sexual activity

None found

Use of substances

None found

Coarse language

There is some very mild coarse language in this movie, including:

  • ‘You Lazy Butts’

In a nutshell

Based on a television series, Maya the Bee Movie is an enjoyable film about learning to be yourself, standing up for your friends and accepting others for who they are. The film is ideal for 5-10 year old children. While there are some witty puns that might make the adults laugh, older children will probably find this movie a bit boring. There are some scary scenes, so parental guidance is recommended for children under 6 years old.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children:

  • the importance of not treating people badly, even if they are different.
  • the real life consequences of not following the rules