My Sweet Monster

image for My Sweet Monster

Short takes

Not suitable under 7; parental guidance to 10 (violence, themes, scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for My Sweet Monster
  • a review of My Sweet Monster completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 7 July 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 7 Not suitable due to violence, themes and scary scenes.
Children aged 7–10 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, themes and scary scenes.
Children over the age of 10 Ok for this age group, though may lack interest.

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: My Sweet Monster
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild fantasy themes and animated violence
Length: 98 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Princess Barbara (voice of Haylie Duff) was very sick as a baby and, as a consequence, her father, the King, has spent a lifetime trying to protect her and make sure no harm comes her way. She lives a very sheltered life, guarded by three protective nannies (all voiced by Olga Gunkina) but loves to read heroic tales and, through shared letters, has fallen in love with a supposed prince. When an evil postman named Bundy Joyce (voice of Pauley Shore) discovers the content of the letters, he tries to blackmail the princess into giving him a kiss. When she refuses, he discovers the King’s secret, a small supply of healing water that helps bring life to those who use it. Bundy seizes the vial of water and forces the King to give him his daughter in marriage. Barbara flees from the palace while Bundy pursues her. She is knocked unconscious and taken prisoner by Rabbit (voice of Josh Wilson) and Bogey (voice of Jon Heder), a half-human, half-beast creature who has been charged by Mother Nature with looking after the forest. They intend to take her back to the castle to collect a reward but things change when Barbara saves Bogey’s life. As Bundy assembles a robotic army to locate the princess and destroy her captors, he stumbles upon the source of the magic water and tries to take everything for himself. Barbara, Bogey and Rabbit must join forces to save the forest, the kingdom and also themselves.

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.

Blackmail; Forced marriage; The power of fear; Greed; Environmental degradation and the gross misappropriation of resources.

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:

  • A story is recounted about a violent serpent and the knight preparing to kill it.
  • Bundy smashes up the King’s laboratory.
  • A motorcycle runs into a man and picks him up, bringing him along for part of a high speed chase.
  • Bundy tries to catch Barbara as she flees the palace. He grabs her scarf while chasing her on motorbike, loses control when he gets tangled in the material and crashes into the side of the road.
  • Barbara is knocked off her horse by a tree branch.
  • Bundy kicks a small animal into a tree.
  • Bundy falls off a cliff.
  • Rabbit ties Barbara’s wrists when he takes her prisoner.
  • A bolt of lightning strikes a man dead.
  • A man is crushed by a boulder as rocks rain down from the sides of a cavern.
  • Bogey threatens to punch Barbara.
  • Bogey is knocked off a cliff top where he falls into a raging river and is about to go over a waterfall before Barbara manages to save him.
  • Bogey grabs Barbara and runs off with her while she screams.
  • Bundy tells his army to go and find Bogey and rip him to pieces.
  • An airplane crashes through a window.
  • Metallic dogs chase and try to attack the princess.
  • A beaver’s home keeps getting crushed, scattered or otherwise destroyed.
  • Robotic dogs get crushed by rocks.
  • Bogey hits a dog.
  • A dog is chased by a round, flying robot which eventually destroys the dog.
  • Cars crash into each other trying to avoid Bogey as he races through the city streets trying to save Barbara. He rips off the bars and locks and bursts through her window.
  • An army of soldiers aims their guns at Bogey.
  • Bogey is held down and Bundy orders his henchmen to cut off Bogey’s horns, nail them to the gate and then kill Bogey.

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:

  • There is a creepy and evil-looking rabbit in a tree; his features distorted by anger and shadows, along with a large, moose-like creature, both of whom appear menacing and (accompanied by growling noises in a sinister-looking forest) cause Bundy to flee in fear.
  • Bundy turns into a creepy, evil monster that looks like he has flowing lava just underneath his cracking skin. His evil persona is only increased by his newfound strength and he grabs Barbara as he is sucked inside a violent tornado, hoping to take her with him. She is screaming and scared but Bogey saves her at the last second and the monster Bundy has become is sucked down into a whirlpool as the tornado turns in on itself.

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.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Princess Barbara receives a letter from a prince in which he states: “I long to embrace you and whisper sweet love into your ear”. Bundy quotes it to her and later her father also reads it aloud, much to Barbara’s horror.
  • Bundy demands that Barbara kiss him. He then tries to blackmail her.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

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

  • A character drinks wine.

Coarse language

No coarse language was noted in this movie but there is some name calling, including:

  • Idiots
  • Moron
  • Silly rabbit
  • Foolish pedal head
  • Metal dummy
  • Pathetic wimp.

In a nutshell

My Sweet Monster is an animated, musical adventure. The film has a stereotypical plot and while it seems to be aimed at younger children due to the graphics and storyline, the themes and general content are really suited to older audiences. However, the film also may lack interest for children over 10.

The main messages from this movie are to follow your heart as well as your dreams; and to look after the environment, for the earth’s resources are not unlimited and there are catastrophic consequences for excessive greed.

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

  • Courage
  • Friendship
  • Teamwork
  • Ingenuity.

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

  • Blackmailing someone to get what you want.
  • Kidnapping young women and forcing young girls into marriage.
  • Abusing nature, destroying the environment and taking far more than you need.
  • Using violence as a means to solve conflict.