Son of Bigfoot

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Son of Bigfoot
• a review of Son of Bigfoot completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 30 October 2017.

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

Thirteen-year-old Adam (voice of Pappy Faulkner) is a loner who is the target of bullies and is described by school officials as having “mid-level acquaintance deficiency”.  He has certain wildness about him, and lately strange things have been happening to him. Adam’s feet spontaneously grow, causing his toes to pop out of the ends of his shoes, his has super-hearing, and his hair, when cut, regrows overnight to be long and unruly in the morning. 

Adam’s life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers letters hidden by his mother and written by his supposedly dead father. Upset that his father’s death was a lie and determined to find him, Adam runs off to the address on the letters which leads to a forest. In the forest a near fatal accident results in Adam being rescued by Bigfoot, who turns out to be Adam’s father (voice of Christopher L. Parson). Bigfoot faked his own death in order to escape the giant corporation HairCo and has been hiding out in the forest ever since.

Reunited Adam and his father form a relationship and Adam learns how to use his new powers. Their happy time together turns into a rescue mission when the people at HairCo discover that Bigfoot is still alive.      

Bigfoot legends; bullying; genetic experiments; superpowers

The film contains physical violence, some of which has a comical intent, but also school bullying and harassment, gun-related violence, and intimidation. Examples include:

• A man runs through a forest chased by large dogs, men wielding tranquiliser guns and a helicopter. He climbs a perilous cliff face in an attempt to escape but is shot with a tranquiliser dart, falls down a waterfall and disappears beneath the water.
• A man is shot in the buttocks with a dart containing hair growth agent. His hair immediately begins to grow and then catches on fire, the man running around the room and then rolling around on the ground in a comical manner with his hair in flames.
• In one scene we see several security guards pointing tranquilizer guns at a boy. One guard accidentally fires, the dart narrowly missing the boy.
• Three bullies sitting in a school detention room repeatedly throwing wads of chewing gum into Adam’s hair. When one of the bullies walks out of the room he elbows Adam in the back of the head and threatens him saying “you’re dead snitch” and then makes the violent gesture of slicing his hand across his throat.
• A bully throws a basketball into the face of another boy causing the victim’s nose to swell and go red. The bully then pushes the victim to the ground and verbally abuses him calling him a “freak”.
• Adam kicks another boy several times in the face.
• A security guard uses his fist to punch a hole in a front door glass, breaks into the house and captures a woman inside. A short time later the woman hits the guard over the head with a bottle and escapes.
• A man threatens Bigfoot’s family with violence if Bigfoot won’t cooperate with him.  
• In one scene a bear uses a door to knock a security guard unconscious, a racoon knocks a guard unconscious with a baton and a squirrel uses a taser to stun a guard. A short time later the bear is shot with tranquilizer darts until it finally collapses unconscious.  
• Adam fires a flare gun into a building, resulting in a chain reaction that destroys the building in explosion and fire.   

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:

• Adam stumbles down a hillside, steps into a bear trap, falls onto a road and is nearly run over by a car before being rescued.
• A security guard use a flame-thrower to set a forest on fire, the fire spreading to a car with Adam locked inside. The car fills with smoke with Adam trapped and coughing. Bigfoot jumps on top of the car, rips the roof off the car and rescues Adam, but is then trapped under a burning tree. They both eventually escape.
• Adam and his father are trapped in a burning building filling with smoke.  They escape by sliding down a zip line.
• A bear roars loudly at two hunters causing them to faint in fright.

Children in this group may be also scared by some of the above-mentioned scenes

Younger children in this group may be also scared by some of the above-mentioned scenes

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

A scene depicts a pregnant raccoon with an extended stomach and there is a discussion about the suspected sex of the soon-to-be-born racoons.  

Nudity and sexual activity

• Mild flirting between teenagers and animal characters
• Bigfoot has a bare hairy chest

Use of substances

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

• People are shot with tranquilizer darts causing them to fall unconscious.
• References are made to adrenalin enhancing superpowers.

Coarse language

The film contains some coarse language and name-calling that younger children may imitate scattered throughout. Examples include:

• holy crap; spaz; mop-top; jerk; freak; friendless loser; idiot; hideous beast; lab rat

In a nutshell

Son of Bigfoot is an animated comedy with a simple story line and lots of action. It is likely to be particularly enjoyed by a young male tween and teen audience although some of the themes are more suited to a slightly older audience. Because of these themes, violence and coarse language the film is not recommended for children under 11.     

The main messages from this movie are:

• self-acceptance is a difficult and challenging part of growing up.
• sometimes doing the right thing is difficult and painful.

 Parents may also wish to discuss the behaviour of the bullies depicted in the film, the way that the school deals with this behaviour and the lack of real consequences..