Not recommended under 8, PG to 10 (Violence, disturbing scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes |
Children aged 8-10 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes |
Children over the age of 10 | 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: | Space Chimps |
Classification: | G |
Consumer advice lines: | Some scenes may scare young children |
Length: | 81 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Ham III (voice of Andy Samberg) feels unable to live up to the legacy of his grandfather Ham I, the famous first chimp in space, and fritters his life away as a daredevil cannon ball in a circus act. However, his life is soon to change abruptly.
When a US space probe is sucked into a wormhole and lands on a planet on the other side of the universe, scientists and aeronautical experts decide to launch a mission to test whether a human could survive the force of the wormhole and to find out if there is life on the new planet. Unable to risk human lives on the mission, they use chimps instead. The Space Chimp program had long since been abandoned, but several chimps had been kept on ‘for show’. Luna (Cheryl Hines), Titan (Patrick Warburton), Comet (Zack Shada) and old Houston (Carlos Alazraqui) have been grooming themselves for a mission, learning far more than the scientists realized.
To inspire public confidence and to boost his approval ratings, the senator promoting the mission insists that a handsome hero-type go too, and preferably a descendant of Ham I. The reluctant Ham III is therefore carried off to join the Space Chimps and Comet and Houston are left behind.
Meanwhile, on planet Malgar, the cruel dictator Zartog (Jeff Daniels) has learned how to use the probe and has either enslaved all the inhabitants of that world, or has frozen them in fresnar a silvery lava in which only their eyes can move and from which, allegedly, they can never escape.
In space, Ham’s daredevil behaviour jeopardizes his fellow crew members numerous times, but once they land on the planet and encounter various hostile forces Ham’s crazy antics, with help from Comet and Houston on earth, repeatedly save them.
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.
Space travel, aliens
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.
The movie contains slapstick violence and accidental harm with no death or injury shown, 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.
Children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the violent and scary scenes described above.
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.
Younger children in this age group may also be disturbed by some of the violent and scary scenes described above.
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.
Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film.
None of concern
There are some sexual references in this movie, including:
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:
“kicked his butt’, “oh my lord”
name calling such as “dork”, “circus freak”, “jerk boy”, “poop-thrower”
Space Chimps is an animated science fiction adventure aimed at children but full of chimpanzee puns, silly jokes and adult humour. The main messages from this movie are to be true to yourself and to follow the right path but to do it your own way.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include creativity, tolerance, and justice.
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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