Moshi Monsters: The Movie

image for Moshi Monsters: The Movie

Short takes

Suitable for individuals of all ages

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Moshi Monsters: The Movie
  • a review of Moshi Monsters: The Movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 4 March 2014.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Suitable
Children aged 5-8 Suitable
Children aged 8-13 Suitable
Children over the age of 13 Suitable

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: Moshi Monsters: The Movie
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: None
Length: 82 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Moshi Monsters is an animated children’s film that follows the adventures of Katsuma (Emma Tate), Poppet (Phillipa Alexander) and their friends as they hunt down a missing artefact. After a filmmaker comes to Monstro City in search of Moshi monsters to star in his documentary, Katsuma tries his hardest to catch the attention of Mr Scrawl and become the lead star of the film. However, a spanner is thrown into the works when the Great Moshling Egg discovered by the archaeologist Mr Bumblechops (Keith Wickham) is stolen. The criminal behind the theft is Dr Strangeglove (Ashley Slater), a man who intends to hatch the egg into a monstrous glump that will assist him in taking over the world.

Dr Strangeglove sends Katsuma and his friends on a quest to find the three items that will enable him to hatch the egg, believing he has tricked Katsuma’s gang into participating in his evil scheme. Katsuma and Poppet are aware of Dr Strangeglove’s true intentions, however, and set about collecting the three items with the knowledge that they intend to simply steal the egg back. After Dr Strangeglove captures them and takes the items, Katsuma manages to escape (with the help of his friend Mr Snoodle) and releases all of the previously kidnapped Moshi monsters, gathering them as an army to scare off Dr Strangeglove and his minions. Monstro City is saved, and the egg is back in the safe hands of Mr Bumblechops.

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.

Good versus evil, friendship, adventure, personal growth.

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.

None of concern

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.

None of concern

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.

None of concern

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.

There is one scene in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen:

  • It is momentarily thought that Mr Snoodle, Katsuma’s friend, has died when Dr Strangeglove pushes him off a ledge to fall to his death. It is later discovered that Mr Snoodle landed in a hot air balloon and survived without injury.

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.

None of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

None of concern

In a nutshell

Moshi Monsters is a light-hearted tale of adventure and personal growth. Although Katsuma is initially obsessed with being the centre of attention and demonstrating the multitude of ways in which he believes he is better than others, he soon learns that teamwork is more important than he could have possibly imagined. His friend Poppet teaches him that it is alright to lean on your friends for support, and that sharing the spotlight with others doesn’t make your contribution any less worthwhile. As there is little violence and few scary scenes this movie is suitable for children of all ages.

The main messages from this movie are the contrasting nature of individuals who strive to abuse their position and power, and those who help others in need for selfless reasons. It demonstrates that behaving selfishly does not pay off, and eventually leads to isolation and social rejection.

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

  • The importance of humility and understanding that you are not always the centre of attention.
  • Trusting your friends to help you when you need it, and acknowledging that you can’t accomplish every task entirely on your own. 
  • Understanding that there are more important things in life than being famous. 


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

  • The abuse and misuse of power.
  • Not placing your trust in strangers, as you may not know their full motivations.