Not suitable under 7; parental guidance to 10 (scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 7 | Not suitable due to scary scenes. |
Children aged 7–10 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary 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 Jam: A New Legacy |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild themes, animated violence and coarse language |
Length: | 116 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Space Jam: A New Legacy is a stand-alone sequel to the 1998 film, Space Jam. Like the original, this sequel is a mix of live action and animation and stars famous NBL Basketball player, Le Bron James, as well as the original Warner Brothers Looney Toons characters (Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, etc.). In this reboot, Le Bron James (playing himself) and his 12-year-old son, Dom (Cedric Joe), are having some relationship issues. Dom is a talented video game designer, who has created an amazing and very popular online basketball game. Le Bron doesn’t understand why Dom can’t just be into playing real basketball and isn’t impressed. One day, on a trip to the Warner Brothers’ studios, the two become trapped in the digital world of the Warner Brothers’ computer server. They have been sucked into the server by a rogue AI character called AI-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) who wants to trap Le Bron inside the server forever. AI-G Rhythm offers them the chance to return to real life, but only if Le Bron can defeat his son in a basketball match. The only catch is that the match will be played according to the rules of Dom’s videogame version of basketball. Le Bron is sent off to the Looney Toon ‘planet’ to assemble a basketball team and prepare for the game, whilst Dom (who has no idea that if he wins, he and his father will be stuck in the server forever) is coached by AI-G Rhythm to create the meanest and most talented line-up of digital basketball players that he can. When it’s finally time for the game, the stakes are suddenly higher than they originally thought.
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.
Basketball; Gaming; Father and Son relationship; Media; Digital Privacy; Artificial Intelligence; Classic cartoons.
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.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
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.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
There is some mild coarse language in this movie, including:
Space Jam: A New Legacy is a light and easy film that is likely to appeal mostly to children in the 8-10 age bracket, especially those who are aspiring basketball players or game designers. The seamless mix of animation, live-action and CGI is quite impressive and there is enough humour and nostalgia to keep adults interested. Le Bron James is great in this role, not only as a basketball player, but a loving father who must learn some lessons on how to be a good Dad. Many children will be able to empathise on some level with Dom’s frustration that his dad just doesn’t understand his passions!
The only frustrating thing with this film was the blatant and constant cross-promotion of other Warner Brothers’ products, some of which are entirely unsuitable for advertising to children, such as the R-rated TV series, Game of Thrones.
The main message from this movie is that we need to appreciate that everyone has their own set of strengths and weaknesses – someone else’s talents might not be like our own, but that doesn’t mean they are any less valuable.
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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