Pil’s Adventures

image for Pil’s Adventures

Short takes

Not suitable under 5; parental guidance to 8 (violence, scary scenes, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Pil’s Adventures
  • a review of Pil’s Adventures completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 12 June 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes and themes.
Children aged 5–8 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, scary scenes and themes.
Children over the age of 8 Ok for this age group.

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: Pil’s Adventures
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes, animated violence and crude humour.
Length: 89 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

A young orphan called Pil (voice of Eleanor Noble) lives in the top of a tower overlooking a picturesque kingdom. Pil watches the townsfolk below, dreaming of having a family of her own and having friends to play with. In order to survive she must steal food and necessities from the town. She is particularly troublesome to one guard called Graubart (voice of Richard Dumont) who has dubbed her a ‘Sprite’ and will stop at nothing to catch her. When Prince Roland (voice of Scott Humphrey) is finally about to come of age and rule the Kingdom for himself, the evil Lord Tristain (voice of Terrence Scammel), who has been ruling on his behalf, decides to poison the Prince in order to keep power. However, Lord Tristain’s plan backfires when, instead of dying, Roland transforms into a creature (part cat, part chicken). Pil, hiding from Graubart, witnesses the transformation and overhears Tristain's evil plan. Disguising herself as a princess she, Graubart and an inept court jester called Jiggler (voice of Wyatt Bowen) hatch a plan to try to save the Prince and stop Tristain from seizing power.

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.

A child going through life without parents and struggling to survive; Murder; The quest for power; Bullying and ridicule; Loneliness.

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:

  • Animals accidentally hit and bang into each other. One is trapped on a wheel, getting squished every time it turns round.
  • Pil smashes a sign into Graubart’s head and a horse kicks him through the air.
  • Tristain violently stabs a cooked chicken, pretending it is Roland, and whispers that it will be Prince Roland’s last night.
  • Tristain tells Roland how he killed Roland’s father and how he framed a sorceress for the murder.
  • Tristain tries to stab Pil with his sword.
  • A lady kicks the chicken/cat not realising it is Prince Roland.
  • A table is blasted through a wall as Princess Pil, Graubart and Jiggler try to escape the castle with Roland. They crash into a pile.
  • Roland (the chicken/cat) is nearly beheaded by field hands cutting hay. He is then nearly stomped on while they are pressing grapes.
  • Tristain hires an army of mercenaries skilled with assassination and torture, with plundering, burning and even hurtling little kitty cats. This army beats up and incapacitates Tristain’s guards.
  • Graubart accidentally hits Jiggler on the head a bunch of times.
  • Graubart and a violent unicorn joust each other.
  • The army of assassins shoot arrows at Graubart. Pil dives in front of him and is hit in the chest. She collapses to the ground while the others are captured. Pil is left for dead while a thousand flaming arrows fall from the sky.
  • Prince Roland, newly transformed back into his human form, is thrown off a cliff. Pil manages to save him when she wakes up and removes the arrow.
  • Tristain is about to have Graubart and the others executed. Pil knocks out all the executioners.
  • The army of assassins attacks the city, catapulting boulders into the stone walls.
  • Prince Roland turns the citizens into his own army and together they launch a counterattack, defending the city by every means possible.
  • Jiggler is trapped in a room with gun powder and is blasted off the roof as it explodes.
  • Pil is taken by a dragon. Roland grabs her as she falls and manages to keep her safe as a huge statue crumbles to the ground.
  • An army of women brandishing their weapons chase Tristain’s evil army out of the Kingdom.

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:

  • Prince Roland is transformed into a half chicken, half cat. While he transforms Tristain tries to kill Pil.
  • A friendly goat herder transforms into a terrifying unicorn. He chases Jiggler and Pil, trying to impale them on his huge horn.

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.

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:

  • There is a scary, angry, sorcerer screaming at Pil and the others to leave the woods. She has antlers in her hair and tattooed lines all over her face. She hovers behind them as they make their way deeper into the forest while Graubart panics about how cursed the place is. There is suspenseful music and scary sounds and whispers that lend a sinister note to the scene.

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.

  • Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • When Roland is transformed back into himself he is completely naked. He quickly dons an animal skin and wears it as underwear with the tail hanging down his backside.
  • One of the assassins has his cloak set on fire. It burns off all his clothes, including his underwear which he flings into the air. The flaming underpants land on Jiggler’s sock puppet. The man is seen running naked through the town (his backside completely exposed) as he calls out his need for undies.

Use of substances

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

  • Tristain tells Roland they will drink to his Coronation but, instead of wine, he pours poison.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Coward
  • Jerk
  • Idiot
  • Traitor
  • Brat
  • Good for nothing.

In a nutshell

Pil’s Adventures is an animated adventure with a fast pace but predictable plot. The film contains a few instances of crude humour, including references to poo and underpants, and is likely to appeal to younger viewers. However, the film is not suitable under 5 and parental guidance is recommended to 8, and it may be difficult for some adults to sit through.

The main messages from this movie are to believe in yourself; to work hard; and to pursue your dreams.

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

  • Kindness
  • Inclusivity
  • Honesty
  • Sacrifice
  • Persistence.

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

  • Ridiculing others or putting them down.
  • Leaving someone out or neglecting to see those in need around you.
  • Putting your own desires before others and doing everything in your ability to keep power, no matter what the cost.
  • Using violence as a means to solve conflict.