Not recommended under 8, parental guidance 8 to 13 due to scary scenes
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to scary scenes |
Children 8 to 13 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes |
Children 13 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: | Nutcracker and the Four Realms, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild fantasy themes |
Length: | 99 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
While grieving the recent loss of their mother, Clara (Mackenzie Foy) and her siblings each receive a gift from her for Christmas. Clara’s present is an egg with a lock but no key. She tries everything she can think of to open it, believing that it will help her to find herself and connect to her mother. But it seems hopeless when nothing she tries will work.
Clara’s father takes them to a Christmas party in the hopes of keeping up appearances and it is here that Clara’s Godfather (Morgan Freeman) gives her the key to the gift from her mother. Unfortunately, just as she is about to reach out and take it, a mouse steals it away. Clara follows it and finds herself in another world. It is a world that her mother created, a world that has begun to fall apart and turn on itself since her mother went away.
Clara soon meets Philip (Jayden Fowora-Knight) a Nutcracker soldier intent on protecting her, Sugar Plum (Kiera Knightly), a toy that her mother made real, just like all the other creatures in the Four Realms, and Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren) who, it seems has been exiled by the others for trying to go against what Marie would have wanted. But things are not all as they might first appear. The key to Clara’s egg is also the key to an invention far more powerful than Clara could ever have imagined. It has the power to give life and take it away and when Clara is betrayed by her advisors it is up to her to save the Realms and set things right.
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 a parent; grief and loss.
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.
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.
Children in this age group may be disturbed 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
Sugar Plum makes a suggestive remark regarding her tin soldiers, saying that: “Boys in uniform send quivers right through me.”
Nothing of concern
Nothing of concern
There are some coarse language and name-calling in this movie, including:
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a fantasy drama which takes a twist on the classic Christmas tale. Filmed in true Disney style with lavish sets and costumes, the movie will generally appeal to families and preteen audiences. Because of scary scenes, it is not recommended for under 8s and some older children may also find parts of the film scary.
The main messages from this movie are to believe in yourself, to have courage, and to realize that sometimes everything that you need to succeed has been within you all along.
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 the importance of equal opportunities for both boys and girls and the importance of pursuing their talents wherever they might lead. Clara, like her mother, has a scientific mind. Despite the male dominated society in which they lived, both she and her mother were strongly encouraged and applauded for their incredible ingenuity in science and engineering. It is Clara’s ability to look at things differently that enables her to escape, and ultimately save the Four Realms.
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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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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