Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 13 (violence and realistic graphic effects)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | While the movie encourages children to enjoy imagery and fantasy, it is not suitable for young children due to the level of violence and the realistic graphic effects. |
Children aged 8–13 | Parental guidance recommended due to the level of violence and the realistic graphic effects. |
Children over the age of 13 | 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: | Peter Pan (2003) |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Medium level violence |
Length: | 113 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
This movie is a retelling of J.M. Barrie’s classic story of a young boy who never wants to grow up. Set in early 20th century London, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) lives with her parents and younger brothers John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell, as well as their ‘nanny’, a St. Bernard Dog, complete with headdress. Wendy has a gift for storytelling and enthrals her brothers with fairy stories and tales of pirates. Peter Pan is an unseen visitor at these storytellings, until one day he appears to Wendy and wants to take her back to Neverland. Wendy wants to go but not without her brothers, so Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) teaches the three children to fly and away they go to Neverland, a fantastic place where good and evil are constantly at odds.
Peter Pan introduces Wendy to the Lost Boys, who have no mother, and they immediately want to adopt her as their mother. The Lost Boys build Wendy her own house and they love to listen to Wendy’s stories. The evil on the island is perpetrated by the wicked Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs) and his cutthroat pirates. Pirates have always fascinated Wendy and her brothers and now they are caught up in their own serious, swashbuckling pirate adventure. Captain Hook and Peter Pan are sworn enemies and it was Peter Pan who cut off Hook’s right hand, requiring him to wear his choice of hooks or claws to suit the occasion. Peter Pan has the fairy, Tinkerbell (Ludivine Sagnier), who is quite often a bad fairy, to help him. There are many battles in which Hook and his crew outnumber Peter Pan and friends, but they have magic on their side. At times it seems as if all is lost but good wins in the end and then Wendy and her brothers must decide whether to stay in the magical Neverland or return home to their parents.
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; Adventure; Fantasy; Pirates.
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 a lot of violence in this movie, some of it comic, 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 nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
Peter Pan (2003) is a good versus evil battle in which the ‘good’ side wins, though Peter Pan and Tinkerbell can also be quite bad, with Peter Pan being credited with chopping off Hook’s arm and feeding it to the crocodiles. The movie promotes childhood by encouraging fantasy and imagination and the desire to never grow old, and while the story of Peter Pan and Captain Hook has been done many times before, this version includes good graphic effects which make it interesting and exciting to watch. It is well acted and also contains a lot of humour which lightens the darker side of the story and is likely to entertain adults and adolescents. However, due to the violence and realistic graphic effects, this movie is not suitable for children under 8 and parental guidance is recommended to 13.
The main messages from this movie are to encourage and support fantasy and imagination and children’s sense of awe and wonder, while appreciating the duality of ‘good versus evil’.
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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