Not recommended under 5, Parental guidance recommended to 8 (Violence; Scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 5 | Not recommended due to violence and scary scenes. |
Children aged 5-8 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children over 8 | 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: | Smurfs, The |
Classification: | G |
Consumer advice lines: | Some scenes may scare young children |
Length: | 103 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
This film is loosely based on the cartoon characters created by Peyo in the 1950s, which were later developed into an American animated television series. This story focuses upon life in the Smurf village, which is located deep within an isolated forest. The village consists of one elder-figure, Papa Smurf (voice of Jonathon Winters) and 100 younger Smurfs, who live together in a family-like relationship. All but one of the Smurfs (Smurfette, or “Girl Smurf”, who is voiced by Katy Perry) are male, and each is named according to their individual dispositions or occupations. The Smurfs include: Clumsy (voice of Anton Yelchin), Gutsy (voice of Alan Cumming), Brainy (voice of Fred Armisen), Grouchy (voice of George Lopez), Narrator (voice of Tom Kane), Baker (voiced by B.J. Novak), Crazy (voice of John Cassir), and Jokey (voice of Paul Reubens).
The Smurfs’ peaceful existence is disturbed by the evil plans of wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria), who constantly seeks to capture the little blue creatures and use them as ingredients for a spell to turn lead into gold. In a bid to escape from Gargamel, several Smurfs jump into a space vortex that appears in the sky and, after a tumultuous journey, find themselves in New York City. From this point on, the Smurfs’ primary objective is finding a means to return to their village, and avoid being captured by Gargamel and his cat Azrael (voice of Frank Welker), who have followed them to New York. On their adventures, the Smurfs meet, and come to rely upon, advertising executive Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris) and his pregnant wife Grace (Jayma Mays).
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.
Separation from loved ones; violence towards animals
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 repeated cartoon-style violence that does not result in realistic outcomes, such as when:
There are also a number of scenes depicting more realistic violence, such as when:
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:
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.
Clumsy almost falls over a cliff. Several Smurfs come to his rescue, but also almost fall to their deaths;
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.
Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film
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 of concern
Some products are displayed or used in this movie, including:
There is also a considerable amount of Smurf merchandise associated with the film.
There are some sexual references in this movie including:
In addition, some scenes appear to make veiled references to an incestuous relationship between the Smurfs. While the film indicates that Smurfette is not biologically related to the boy Smurfs, it implies that they have grown up together in brother-sister style relationships, and there are several references throughout the story of the Smurfs as a “family”.
In an early scene, Gargamel, who is shown holding puppet versions of Papa Smurf and Smurfette and talking to himself about the Smurfs, makes a comment about the fact that there is only one female in the whole village, questioning the normality of this.
Another scene includes a spoof of the famous Marilyn Monroe air-vent scene from The Seven Year Itch. Smurfette's dress is blown into the air by the floor-heating system. The boy Smurfs respond with appreciative “oohs” and “ahhs”, and Smurfette looks at them suggestively and says, “oh, sorry boys – that’s not what I had in mind”.
There is one scene involving implied inappropriate body exposure, when Gargamel moves behind a trolley in a restaurant and urinates into an ice bucket.
There are some scenes involving kissing, including Grace and Patrick sharing a passionate kiss at the end of the film.
There is some substance use in this movie, including scenes where characters are depicted drinking alcoholic cocktails.
There is some coarse and threatening language, and several put-downs in this film that children may imitate, including:
In addition, many scenes involve a form of mock-swearing, where common phrases have been modified by replacing the expletives with the word “smurf”. Examples include:
The Smurfs is a children’s comedy, which features a juxtaposition of animation and live acting. Its principle message centres upon the value of teamwork, shared goals and family relationships. It could be enjoyed by all but very young children as well as some parents who were fans of the original Smurfs. Parents, however, may be concerned by the representation of the cat character as calculating and evil, the frequent violence, mock swearing, and the occasionally sexual references. At 103 minutes, the film is also rather long for children.
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:
The negative outcomes of violence towards humans or animals, and alternative means of resolving conflict.
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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Content is age appropriate for children this age
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