Razzle Dazzle

image for Razzle Dazzle

Short takes

PG to 13 (Themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Razzle Dazzle
  • a review of Razzle Dazzle completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 March 2007.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 5 May lack interest for children under 5.
Children aged 5-13 Parental guidance recommended due to scenes in which children are upset and bullied by adults.
Children over the age of 13 Children over 13 could view this movie with or without parental supervision.

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: Razzle Dazzle
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 91 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

In Australia, thousands of children participate each year in the Sanosafe Dance Troupe Spectacular. It is a highly competitive world, full of eccentric characters, pushy parents and young stars in the making.
For the last few years, the competition has been won by Miss Elizabeth’s (Jane Hall) dance school troupe. Miss Elizabeth has high expectations of her students and her teaching style is one steeped in discipline, sparse praise and, at times, humiliation of her students. She has a low opinion of her competitors, particularly Jonathan Scott (Ben Miller).
Mr Jonathan, formerly a moderately successful UK based dancer, runs his Jazzketeers with different aspirations. Mr Jonathan tends to choreograph dances with political messages, which are less acceptable to audiences and judges alike and consequently his dance school has achieved less success in the competition. Nonetheless, Mr Jonathan has a loyal support base, including his school’s business manager Barbara(Denise Roberts), Justine(Kerry Armstrong), the pushy mother of  his student Tenille(Shayni Notelovitz), and his costume maker (Tara Morice).
Both Miss Elizabeth and Mr Jonathan enter their dance troupes into the competition and must cope with many obstacles and adversities along the way.

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.

Competition; Pushy parents; Family and relationships

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.

During a dance routine, children dressed as soldiers carrying machine guns round up and tie up a group of children dressed as Muslim women

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:

  • During some dance rehearsals the children are asked to pretend they are being tortured and dying. These death throes although shown for comic effect, may be upsetting to younger viewers.

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:

  • Mr Jonathon asks his dance class to imagine that their pets have been electrocuted. One of the girls is seen to be shocked and start crying at this thought.
  • Miss Elizabeth targets and humiliates her students about their diet choices, their weight gain and dance technique.
  • During a dance rehearsal in which the girls are wearing gas masks, one of the girls passes out after nearly suffocating in a mask with no breathing holes. She is next seen slumped on a chair recovering. While this scene is depicted in a comic manner, it may upset some children.

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.

There is nothing in this film which is likely to disturb children in this age group.

Thirteen and overinfo

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.

There is nothing in this film which is likely to disturb children in this age group.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • During the final competition, some Libra sponsorship is evident.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Mr Jonathan briefly considers producing a dance to highlight the problem of venereal disease.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

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

  • Tenielle’s mother, Justine, is frequently seen holding a glass of wine during her interviews and also when entertaining friends. On one occasion, she is seen to be drinking Berocca and Tenielle refers to her mother’s hangover as a ‘sick headache’.

Coarse language

There is no coarse language used, however there is some name calling by the adult characters.

In a nutshell

Razzle Dazzle is a feel good mockumentary about the world of children’s dance competitions. Younger children may not follow the comedic tone of the movie, but may enjoy the colourful costumes and performances by the dancing troupes. Older children and adults are likely to recognise and enjoy the eccentric characters inhabiting this dance world, with some laugh out loud moments. (Tip: be sure to stay right to the end of the credits).

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

  • The correct spirit of competition and that winning isn’t everything.
  • How to win and lose graciously.
  • Being determined and persistent in achieving one’s goals, but not at the cost of others.