Teen Titans Go! To the movies

image for Teen Titans Go! To the movies

Short takes

Not recommended under 8; parental guidance recommended to 10 due to violence, scary scenes and sexual references

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Teen Titans Go! To the movies
  • a review of Teen Titans Go! To the movies completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 10 September 2018.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not recommended due to violence, scary scenes and sexual references
Children aged 8 to 10 Parental guidance recommended due to violence, scary scenes and sexual references
Children aged 10 and over OK for this age group

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.

Name of movie: Teen Titans Go! To the movies
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild animated violence
Length: 88 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Teen Titans Go! To the movies is an animated movie involving DC Comic Books characters. The Teen Titans are a group of teenage would-be superheroes. Robin (voice of Scott Menville) is desperate to have a movie made about him like other famous superheroes - Batman, Superman, etc. The movie director Jade Wilson, (Kristen Bell) doesn’t take Robin and his friends seriously, nor do any of the other superheroes. Robin decides he needs a nemesis to provide a reason for him to become a famous superhero and so meets Slade (Will Arnett). Slade (who looks a lot like Deadpool) has dastardly plans to take over the universe by mind control methods.

Slade manages to take control of Jade and the other superheroes and lures Robin in by making him believe that he’s going to have his own movie. Meanwhile Slade has obtained the necessary titanium to power his Doomsday Machine which will bring the rest of the universe under his evil control. It is up to Robin and his faithful friends to prevent Slade from carrying out his wicked plans.

Themesinfo

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.

Good versus evil; superheroes

Use of violenceinfo

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 a lot of animated violence in this movie including many scenes of fighting with swords, lasers, guns and other weapons. Examples include:

  • Balloon Man crushes and destroys everything in his path.
  • Police try to shoot at Balloon Man but he just swipes them away.
  • The Teen Titans arrive and try to shoot at Balloon Man and fly at him to stop him. Balloon Man then captures Beast Boy who transforms into a spiny anteater and shoots spines into his bottom.
  • The Titans are driving a car quite fast and run over a large cat on two feet (who had been playing a guitar). They run off and leave the cat on the ground.
  • Slade has two long swords that he keeps behind his back ready for him to use at any moment.
  • Slade electrocutes one of the Titans.
  • The Titans viciously attack an actor playing the role of Slade.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

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:

  • The movie begins with a loud bang and Balloon Man comes stamping through town destroying everything in his path. He smashes buildings and crushes people underfoot.
  • Balloon Man is shrunk to a very small size by the adult superheroes.
  • While trying to find a nemesis for Robin, many of the evil characters are shown and they all look quite frightening.
  • Robin dreams that Batman throws him off a tall tower block.
  • The Teen Titans travel in time to the past and when they return to the present there are no superheroes. The world looks a very scary place, everything is on fire and it’s quite lawless.
  • At one point Slade takes control of Robin’s mind and he becomes evil, looking angry and with red eyes. Robin zaps Starfire (one of the Titans) with a sword.
  • A huge monster appears with swords, guns and maces.

Aged five to eightinfo

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 are also likely to be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

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.

Some of the younger children in this age group could also be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes.

Thirteen and overinfo

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 of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • DC and Warner Bros are heavily advertised.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Batman sits in the movies with his arm around another superhero.
  • Robin stands on the stage in front of a huge picture of Batman on the screen. Robin just fits inside Batman’s groin.
  • At the end of the film Robin says to camera, “Kids, ask your parents where babies come from”

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • There seems to be an emphasis in several scenes on showing bare bottoms being shaken and slapped. This is a bit disturbing.

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Balloon Man shakes his bottom for a long sequence then one of the Titans says he farts.
  • Some name calling such as: morons, losers, sidekick and the Teen Titans themselves are often referred to as a joke.

In a nutshell

Teen Titans Go! To the movies is an animated superhero fantasy based on DC Comics characters. Like the comic books, it has no resemblance to reality and very little story. It is likely to appeal to those who like superhero comics, but as there is continuous violence throughout, scenes that may scare young children, and some sexual references, it is not recommended for children under 8.

The main messages from this movie are that friends are more important than fame and that you don’t have to be a superhero to be super.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • the importance of friendship
  • teamwork
  • loyalty

 This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Robin’s vanity in thinking there should be a movie made about him, and the fact that he gives up his friends in order to become famous.