Postman Pat: The movie

image for Postman Pat: The movie

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Ideal for 5- 10 year olds, parental guidance recommended for under 5s due to some possibly scary scenes.

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Postman Pat: The movie
  • a review of Postman Pat: The movie completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 August 2014.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 Parental guidance recommended due to some possibly scary scenes
Children aged 5 to 10 Suitable and ideal for this age group
Children aged 10 and over Suitable for this age group, however some older children may find it boring

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: Postman Pat: The movie
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: None
Length: 87 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Based on the popular children’s television show of the same name, this movie follows friendly postman, Pat Clifton (voiced by Stephen Mangan) who promises his wife Sara (voiced by Susan Duerden) a trip to Italy when he gets his annual bonus.

When Pat’s new boss cancels all bonuses Pat decides to audition for the talent show You’re the One to win Sara her dream holiday.

But while Pat is busy with his singing success, his new boss builds an army of robot postmen that threaten his friends and family. Pat must decide what is more important, his success or his family.

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.

Friends and family relationships; robots; fame and success

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:

  • The evil robot cat shoots lasers from its eyes but no one gets hurt.
  • The robot postmen have scary eyes and nearly run people over in their van.
  • The evil boss character threatens to hurt Postman Pat, however Pat is never hurt.
  • The robot postmen chase Postman Pat and try to attack him but Pat escapes.

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:

  • Jess the cat is often involved in slapstick comedy style accidental harm such as falling down chimneys and running into walls.
  • The robot cat explodes in fire ball but he survives and later becomes friends with Jess the cat.

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.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this movie

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • The talent show You’re the One is a clear reference to Britain’s Got Talent and the X-Factor
  • Postman Pat merchandise

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Occasional hip thrusting dance moves

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

Simon Cowbell (the judge from the talent show) uses language such as “tatty country bumpkins” and other similarly rude comments but not course language. Simon is often mean to the talent contestants and this rude and sarcastic behaviour may be mimicked by children.

In a nutshell

Postman Pat: The Movie is a fun and charming film about the problems that come with success and fame, and the importance of cherishing human interactions. The film is ideal for children aged 5- 10. While some older children may find the film boring, the humour is also likely to entertain adults. Parental guidance is recommended for younger children as they may find the robots frightening. 

The main messages from this movie are:

  • Life is busy and fast but it is important to remember to take time to cherish your friends and family
  • Success only makes you happy when you have people to share it with
  • The most important things in the world are friends and family

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

  • kindness
  • appreciation of others
  • confidence and belief in yourself

 This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children:

  • the attitudes and behaviours, and the real life consequences of the character Simon Cowbell who is very rude and sarcastic, and negatively criticises the talent contestants.
  • the real life problems that can come with fame and success

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of not spending too much time watching screens and playing with technological devices as it detracts from important human interaction.