Sketch

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Sketch
• a review of Sketch completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 9 September 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

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.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Widowed father Taylor Wyatt (Tony Hale) is preparing to sell his house with the help of his real estate agent sister Liz (D’Arcy Carden). Following the death of his wife, Taylor takes down all the photos and packs away all the reminders of his wife, hoping to make the grieving process easier on himself and his children. His son Jack (Kue Lawrence) does his best to suppress his pain and tries to fix everything around him, including his younger sister Amber (Bianca Belle) who appears to be angry at the world. Harassed by a classmate called Bowman (Kalon Cox), Amber draws a number of graphic images depicting different ways that Bowman is murdered by monsters. A psychiatrist gives her a sketch book and encourages her to continue to draw her feelings of rage – and draw Amber does. Meanwhile, Jack discovers a mysterious pond in the woods behind their house and when he plunges his injured hand into the water to retrieve his broken phone, he discovers that his phone is fixed and his hand is healed. He begins to experiment with the properties of the pond, while Amber secretly watches. When her sketchbook accidently falls into the water, Jack fishes it out and they discover that the monsters are missing off the pages. The water seems to have brought them to life and they set out to attack the people and things depicted in Amber’s drawings. A giant blue monster called Dave attacks the kids on their way to school and other monsters attack the town. As Amber realises what is happening, she and her brother race to save Bowman, themselves and their families from the creatures that would destroy them all.

Death of a parent; Grief; Emotional suppression; Fear; Anxiety; Isolation; Harassment; The consequences of unchecked creativity and self-loathing.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Amber draws a picture of a classmate who bullies her. He is depicted being strangled and skewered through the stomach as he drips with blood which forms a pool on the ground.
• Jack takes a rough tumble down a hill, cutting his hand badly and having to pick debris out of his gaping wound.
• Amber describes pulling out eyeballs and feeding them to millions of bugs. She later draws spiders taking her dad’s things, including his coffee, phone and eyeballs.
• Amber explains the monsters in the pictures she shows her father, including: ‘Blood Eaters’ who eat people’s blood and then puke it back over them; ‘Tattlers’ who tell the ‘Blind Ones’ (huge towering monsters with gaping mouths) where you are so the Blind Ones come and kill you; and ‘Snapadons’ who are huge winged dinosaur-like creatures that swoop down and stab you in the face. One monster doesn’t look very scary so Amber adds poisonous snakes for toes in case people don’t die when the monster crushes them. Visuals accompany the descriptions.
• A creepy creature breaks into a service station and terrifies the adults who work there.
• Dave attacks Jack, grabbing hold of him by the snakes at the end of his feet. He manages to escape when they are able to put the monster to sleep.
• Dave wakes up screaming and spewing glitter from his mouth as his eyes dangle precariously from his face and he sets off in pursuit of the children.
• Taylor is repeatedly attacked by tiny spiders.
• Bowman is nearly killed and eaten by a monster.
• Amber is covered in spiders as she falls through a door. They attack her and she tumbles into a bathtub. They are trying to take her eyes when she manages to get the water running and wash them away.
• Bowman throws a chair through the window and blasts spiders with a power hose, shaking them off as they go for his eyes.
• Amber throws Jack’s notebook out of the bus window.
• Spider creatures are crushed with plates and fists and feet.
• A character is described as being stabbed hard through the stomach.
• Bowman is attacked by a butterfly.
• Taylor attacks a monster with a shovel, and Liz attacks another with a Weed Wacker.
• A monster tries to strangle Jack with its tongue.
• Amber fights monsters by using the drawings she has on her arms.
• Jack uses a flame thrower to burn monsters. He melts the face off of one.
• Jack slices the hand off a creature who is about to kill his father.
• Amber kills monsters with the tentacles on her arms.
• Good drawings come to life and attack and defeat the bad ones.

Material that may scare or disturb children

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:

• There are numerous monsters depicted in the film, including a very evil, purple creature with black, gaping holes for a mouth and eyes, a long arm that can transform into a sharp skewer, and a sinister lurch. There are thousands of creepy spider-like creatures that try to suck the eyes out of people’s sockets and a large blind monster that tries to eat children.
• There is a cat that appears innocent but who suddenly transforms into a menacing, devilish creature with tentacles. He flips Taylor’s car over and terrifies Liz.
• Sometimes there are sinister sounds as Amber draws her pictures and a heavy sense of peril accompanies numerous scenes.

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:

• Amber draws graphic pictures of a child being killed by a monster.
• Children and their bus driver are attacked on the school bus. They are chased by a giant blue monster with poisonous snakes for legs that repeatedly attempts to crush them. The bus is driven off the road and crashes into a truck, knocking the driver unconscious. The children must escape as the creature tries to smash its way into the bus. The children are terrified. One child calls out that, “He is going to eat us and take our skin!” They manage to get out but are separated and frantic parents try to find them.
• An evil creature creates more evil creatures and brings them to life. He sits back as they burst out of the water and continues to draw more menacing creatures while Jack watches from a distance. There is a jump-scare when Jack looks away from the creature, who is at a distance, and then looks again only to have the monster almost beside him. The creature stabs Jack’s illustration and shreds the paper meant to be their salvation.
• A bunch of scary monsters pursue Jack and Amber. There are screaming sounds as a purple creature chases Amber.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Minecraft and Zelda are both mentioned. Amber draws the diamond sword from Minecraft and Jack uses it to attack monsters.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Bowman asks Amber if she will be his girlfriend.
• One child asks: “What are vitals?” another one answers: “Something only boys have.”

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

• None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Bastards
• Shut Up!
• Butt
• Dumb ass
• Nerds
• Stupid
• Hell
• B-hole
• Amber is repeatedly called an Orphan as an insult.

In a nutshell

Sketch is a fantasy-adventure / comedy-horror film. It contains many special effects, demonstrates how art can be used to process pain, and includes powerful messages about grief, healing and reconnection. The film is best suited to audiences over the age of twelve.

The main messages from this movie are that it is okay to feel everything and that creativity can help with healing; that drawing evil pictures doesn’t make you an evil person; and that life is about balancing the good with the bad and making sure that you carry enough good to outweigh the bad.

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

• Compassion
• Kindness
• Teamwork
• Friendship
• Love
• Forgiveness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of open communication and processing feelings in a way that will provide an outlet but that won’t result in anyone else being hurt or harmed.