Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 12 (scary scenes and themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not suitable due to scary scenes, themes, length and potential lack of interest. |
Children aged 8–12 | Parental Guidance recommended due to scary scenes. Parents with sensitive children please take caution. |
Children over the age of 12 | 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: | Spirited Away |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Supernatural Themes |
Length: | 125 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Chihiro is a ten-year-old girl who is moving to a new city with her mother and father. On the way to their new house, they take a wrong turn and find themselves at an abandoned and dilapidated theme park, which is a replica of an old-style Japanese village. Even though Chihiro is totally creeped out by this place, her parents are keen to take a look around, so they go exploring. Chihiro’s parents can smell some delicious street food cooking and take a seat at one of the stalls where some tempting food has miraculously appeared. Even though there is no one to serve them, her parents tuck in to the food with great enthusiasm. Chihiro is disgusted and annoyed, heading off down the road and crossing over a river that leads to a grand old bath house. She is just turning around to return to her parents when a boy appears, warning her to get out quickly before the sun sets. Chihiro runs back to find her parents but to her shock and horror she sees that they have been turned into pigs! It is now too late to get back across the river and Chihiro becomes trapped in a world of spirits. The boy reappears and gives her advice on how she can survive in this strange and terrifying spirit world, saying he will help her find her parents and change them back into humans. A surreal and epic adventure begins where Chihiro must secure a job in the big bath house, navigate the many strange characters who wish to do her harm, help her friend Haku, save her parents and return to her human life.
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.
Supernatural; Spirits; Japanese Gods; Adventure; Loss of Parents.
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.
Nothing further of concern.
There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
Spirited Away is an academy award-winning Japanese film by acclaimed writer Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki created the film specifically to capture the imagination of children in the 10 -13 age bracket, feeling that current offerings for that age group were limited. Spirited Away is a creative and rich feat of storytelling that delves deeply into Japanese Shinto and Buddhist symbolism. Not only is it an epic and surreal adventure, but the animation is detailed and visually spectacular. Due to its extremely complex storyline, long length and scary themes, it is definitely better suited to older children. Younger children may find it simultaneously disturbing and boring!
The main messages from this movie are that greed and consumption lead us away from happiness and that we must fight for what is truly important in life.
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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