Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 12 (scary scenes, themes and violence)
This topic contains:
Children under 10 | Not suitable due to scary scenes, themes and violence. |
Children aged 10–12 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes, themes and violence. |
Children aged 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: | Personal History of David Copperfield, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes and violence |
Length: | 119 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
This modern version of Dickens' classic tale begins with David Copperfield (Dev Patel) relating his life story to an audience. His father died before he was born and his mother, Clara (Morfydd Clark), brings him up as a young gentleman. The young David's (Ranveer Jaiswal) life is completely overturned when Clara meets and marries a Mr Murdstone (Darren Boyd). Murdstone moves in with his equally cruel and cold sister, Jane (Gwendoline Christie), and David is sent away to stay with the maid, Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper), who lives at Yarmouth in an upside-down boat. When David returns home, his stepfather treats him cruelly for not performing well at his studies and sends him to London to work in Murdstone's bottle making factory.
While in London, David lodges with a Mr Micawber (Peter Capoldi), his wife and five children. Micawber ends up in debtors’ prison and the family is thrown out onto the streets. David's life continues to take a series of twists and turns with rises and steep falls. Micawber and Peggotty both continue to appear throughout David's fascinating life, as well as other characters such as sly Uriah Heep. In the end, David is encouraged to write his story down and thus becomes a writer.
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.
19th century England; poverty; loss of a parent; step-parenting; tragedy and triumph.
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.
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:
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.
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is little coarse language in this movie, including:
The Personal History of David Copperfield is an abridged version of the Dickens' classic novel. Many of the nasty incidents have been removed which makes it more appropriate for older children and teens. There are several unpleasant characters and 19th century England is certainly grim. The story is also quite complex and is therefore not recommended for children under 10 and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 10 – 12.
The main messages from this movie are that perseverance is rewarded; compassion is a great virtue; and overcoming adversity is an important ability.
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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