Not recommended under 7, parental guidance recommended 7 to 10, due to violence, themes and physical transformations that might scare young children
This topic contains:
Children under 7 | Not recommended due to violence, themes and physical transformations that might scare young children |
Children aged 7 to 10 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and themes |
Children aged 10 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: | Monster Family |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes and animated violence |
Length: | 89 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Emma Wishbone (Emily Watson) is down on her luck: her husband Frank (Nick Frost) is always working or sleeping, her daughter Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) is struggling through the difficulties of adolescence, her son Max (Ethan Rouse) is getting bullied at school and her bookstore is in debt. Emma can’t even walk down the street without encountering a series of unfortunate events. She accidentally makes a call to Dracula (Jason Isaacs) who, in a matter of moments, falls in love with her and determines to make her his vampire bride. Dracula bribes an ancient witch Baba Yaga (Catherine Tate) to transform Emma but the witch accidentally transforms the whole Wishbone family into monsters.
The Wishbones set off to find Baba Yaga in the hope that she will transform them back, only to find themselves banished to the desert and more alone than they have ever been before. Here they must face their fears, find the strength that has been theirs all along, and learn to love and accept themselves if they are to save not only their family but also the world.
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.
Family breakdown; bullying; the supernatural
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.
Younger children in this age group may be worried 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.
Nothing of concern
Nothing of concern
Dracula talks about Emma being “his” forever, despite the fact that she is already married.
There is some partial nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
Dracula feeds Emma pills which work almost instantaneously to curb her thirst for blood. He forces another pill down her throat that has the opposite effect as he hopes she will kill her family.
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Monster Family is a predictable animated adventure about a dysfunctional family who are transformed into stereotyped horror movie monsters. It is aimed at young audiences but is not recommended for children under 7 due to violence, themes and physical transformations that might be scary for young children. Parental guidance is recommended for the 7 to 10 year old group.
The main messages from this movie are that the power of love is far stronger than that of evil, that each of us is braver than we think we are, and that beauty comes from within. We don’t need others to tell us that we are beautiful because it is about how we see ourselves, not how others perceive us.
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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