Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild

image for Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild

Short takes

Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 13 (fantasy action violence, depictions of death)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild
  • a review of Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 17 August 2021.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to fantasy action violence, depictions of death, and frightening visual images.
Children aged 8–13 Parental guidance recommended due to fantasy action violence and depictions of death.
Children over the age of 13 Ok for this age group.

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: Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Moderate impact violence
Length: 59 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Living side-by-side with monsters, amateur monster hunter, Aiden (voiced by Dante Basco), and his village battle to keep their flocks from being eaten and their homes from being destroyed. When Aiden is saved from a Velociprey monster by Julius (voiced by Brando Eaton), an Ace Monster Hunter and member of the Monster Hunter Guild, he starts a quest to save the local villagers from an Elder Monster. Elder Dragons are a rare and ancient type of monster with immense power that destroy everything in their path - and one is headed straight for Aiden’s village. With the help of Guild Monster Researcher Mae (voiced by Caroline Caliston), Ace Monster Hunter Nadia (voiced by G.K. Bowes), weapons maker Ravi (voiced by Dan McCoy), and talking cat Nox (voiced by Stephen Kramer Glickman), Aiden and Julius come up with a plan to battle the Elder Dragon and save Aiden’s home.

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; Natural disasters (flood and fire).

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:

  • Humans battle monsters in numerous sequences using a range of weapons (e.g., cannons, arrows, spears, swords, etc.) - these sequences are intense and include near-death escapes and casualties in main characters.
  • The protagonists battle with monsters and their wins are celebrated - this depicts violence from ‘good’ characters as justified and acceptable.
  • Characters are thrown against rocks; hit in the head with objects; attacked with flames; dropped from high places; paralysed by gas; and eaten by monsters - much of the plot revolves around ‘good’ physically fighting ‘evil’ monsters, to save the day.

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:

  • Monsters are frequently shown throughout this film and are frightening in appearance and physicality - these monsters will likely scare children in this age group due to their menacing physical appearance and attacks on the human characters.
  • Mae’s pet beetle dies after battling the Elder Dragon - this may distress younger viewers.

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.

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:

  • Aiden’s village is lit on fire by the Elder Dragon and later washed away by a flood - this may distress some viewers (particularly those with lived experience of such events).
  • Aiden and Julius are nearly trampled by a herd of monsters - this a tense sequence and may distress younger viewers.
  • Aiden is wrapped in a monster’s web and hung upside-down from a tree - he is in grave danger during this scene which may distress younger viewers.
  • Aiden is attacked and nearly killed by a dinosaur-like monster - this will likely frighten children in this age group.

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.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Mae and Ravi are killed while trying to defeat the Elder Dragon - Ravi is burnt alive (shown but not graphic) and Mae is eaten (heard but not seen).
  • Aiden describes his parents and village being destroyed by a monster - this may distress younger viewers.

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 further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Two adult characters toast mugs of alcohol.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • “Let's kick some Lunastra”.
  • Freakin’.
  • A character almost says, “shit”.
  • Heck.

In a nutshell

Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild is an animated film adaptation of the Monster Hunter video game series. Due to its length, story line, and content, this film will likely be enjoyed by younger fans of the video game franchise. However, this film is not suitable for children under 8 due to animated fantasy violence, frightening sequences, and depictions of death, and parental guidance is recommended to 13.

The main message from this movie is that protecting the balance of nature is vital to allow humans and animals to live side-by-side in harmony.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Working together as a team.
  • Finding belonging requires you to be yourself and look out for those you care about.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Aiden is shown touching and sniffing animal dung while tracking a monster - this could be unsafe if copied by young children.