Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 11 (violence, scary scenes, themes, language)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes, language and themes. |
Children aged 8–11 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence, themes and language. |
Children over the age of 11 | 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: | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild crude humour, action violence and coarse language |
Length: | 122 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Marooned on a distant, fungi filled planet, Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has been biding his time while he hatches plans for revenge on Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz). Finally able to free himself, he heads back to Earth with a new partner, named Knuckles (voice of Idris Elba), who has spent his life looking for a lost emerald that he believes Sonic holds the key to finding. Meanwhile, Sonic is living it up in Green Hills, Montana with the town’s sheriff Tom (James Marsden) and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter), while simultaneously trying to make it as a self-named super hero called Blue Justice. Sonic’s plans of being a hero repeatedly backfire, often ending with unhappy, albeit safe, people and lots of property damage. When Tom and Maddie head to Hawaii for their friend Rachel’s (Natasha Rothwell) wedding, Sonic promises to look after the place and stay out of trouble. As Dr Robotnik and Knuckles make their appearance, Sonic is assisted by a furry friend from afar, named Tails (voice of Colleen O’Shaughnessey). Together they learn of the lost emerald, the power it holds and how to find it. They set off on a mission to keep it safe, with Dr Robotnik and Knuckles hot on their trail. When Sonic desperately crashes Rachel and Randall’s (Shemar Moore) wedding, he and Tails are captured and it looks like Knuckles and the evil Dr will win, until Sonic teams up to become the hero he has always hoped to be.
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.
Revenge; Greed; Good versus evil; Deceit; Betrayal.
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:
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:
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:
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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a sequel to the movie based on the Sega video games. There are numerous special effects and while the plot is fast paced it is also very predictable. This is a film for families with slightly older children that will be especially appreciated by Sonic fans.
The main messages from this movie are that anyone can be a hero but that we do not choose the moment – the moment chooses us.
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:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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