Thelma the Unicorn

image for Thelma the Unicorn

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Not suitable under 7; parental guidance to 10 (themes, violence, sexual innuendo)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Thelma the Unicorn
  • a review of Thelma the Unicorn completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 16 July 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 7 Not suitable due to themes, violence and sexual innuendo.
Children aged 7–10 Parental guidance recommended due to themes, violence and sexual innuendo.
Children aged 11 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: Thelma the Unicorn
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild animated violence and crude humour
Length: 98 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Thelma (voice of Brittany Howard), a frizzy haired, brown and white pony, has always had music inside of her. She loves to sing and dreams of sharing her songs with the world. When she and her band mates Otis (voice of Will Forte) and Reggie (voice of Jon Heder) are laughed off the stage by judges who tell her that she is not star material and will never make it, Thelma is devastated. When a freak accident causes her to be covered in pink paint and glitter, she is mistaken for a magical unicorn and she sings a song for her small audience that, thanks to social media, is soon shared with the world. Vic Diamond (voice of Jemaine Clement), the corrupt manager of music diva Nikki Narwhal (voice of Ally Dixon), knows that Thelma will be the next big thing and he is determined to sign her at any cost. Sabotaging her band and manipulating Thelma into losing sight of what has always been important to her, Vic forces her into a fake relationship with internet sensation Danny Stallion (voice of Fred Armisen) and, quicker than she could ever believe possible, Thelma begins to realise all of her musical dreams. She is famous, she has a hit single, and she will be the opening act at a prestigious music festival, however, more than anything else, she is miserable. She misses her friends, she misses making her own songs and music, she misses being herself, and she feels like a fraud, underserving of her fame and fortune. When the competition threatens to expose her for who she truly is, Thelma throws away her much-loved songbook and attempts to disappear forever. While the world wonders what has happened to Thelma, her true friends search high and low to try to find her, but it is a random stranger who opens her eyes and gives her the confidence to share what has been buried in her heart all along. Will the world be ready to hear her message? Will they be able to see her for who she truly is, or will they be blinded by the preconception of what a star is meant to be?

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.

Exploitation; Consumerism; Vanity: The power of what is classified as physical beauty; Branding; Loss of self-identity; Sabotaging the competition; Greed and Corporate corruption; The pull of fame and the loss of true friendship.

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 some violence in this movie, including:

  • A stick of dynamite blasts a ‘portaloo’ into the sky. A man rolls out of it once it has crashed back down to the ground.
  • Thelma is nearly crushed by a tractor.
  • A tractor crashes into and damages a hen house, sending hens scurrying everywhere.
  • A small fish is blown like bubble gum and seems to explode in Nikki’s mouth.
  • Thelma trips on a rock and a trailer of manure lands on her.
  • Thelma crashes off the stage, a drum lands on top of her, and she gets all tangled up in wires. The audience is all laughing at her, and she is very sad.
  • Two men slap each other.
  • Two characters make their toy figurines fight as they imagine a battle.
  • A blind character viciously pokes a man in the mouth with her walking stick.
  • A group of characters believe that if they stop dancing, they will die.
  • Vic launches a mini rocket that hits and explodes against a car that Otis and Reggie are travelling in.
  • A character rips his hair out with his fists.
  • Nikki screams, chasing and trying to impale Thelma as she scurries out of reach across a stage.
  • Nikki electrocutes herself in a bunch of wires, slices a circle through the stage with her horn and then falls through it as she crashes to the ground.
  • People are running in fear and there is a fire as a concert is evacuated.
  • Nikki impales a television with her horn.
  • Nikki wants to destroy Thelma, and her assistant asks her if she: “is talking about murder?”
  • There is a scene of goblins laying siege to the Oregon Trail and attacking settlers in covered wagons.
  • A pioneer woman hits a goblin with a frying pan and another settler knocks a goblin in the head with a rolling pin.
  • Characters battle each other with swords.
  • Thelma is purposefully knocked over the side of a boat.
  • A character crashes into an elephant’s behind.
  • Danny tries to autograph an urn and winds up smashing it and scattering the ashes of the grandmother that were held inside.
  • A goat repeatedly bashes her head on a table.
  • A goat bangs into another character.
  • Characters in a crowd throw eggs at Thelma and knock her down. They continue to pelt her while she lies on the pavement.
  • A goat destroys all the musical instruments on a stage.
  • A character throws water all over Thelma and threatens to expose her on the internet unless she disappears.
  • Thelma says that she wants to flush herself down the toilet.
  • A vehicle crashes into things.
  • Thelma’s carrot horn is knocked off her head, it arches through the air and lands in a man’s butt crack as he sits on a bench with his back to Thelma.
  • A blind woman hits a bear and two other aggressive characters with her walking stick. She knocks out all three.
  • A ‘portaloo’ careens off a truck and knocks a man to the ground, collapsing on top of him.
  • A booing audience throws cans at Otis and Reggie.
  • Otis kicks some characters into a door.
  • A character threatens Thelma with an electric Taser.
  • Nikki tries to poke at Thelma and another character with her horn, and they are nearly electrocuted before the plan backfires and a character lands in Nikki’s blowhole.

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:

  • Some young children may be frightened by Nikki when she becomes enraged and tries to impale Thelma with her horn. She is consumed by rage and, momentarily, looks evil and menacing while she attempts to harm Thelma.
  • There are a few other creepy-looking characters. Vic has a perpetual sleazy vibe going on and he pops his teeth out at one point. There are strange fans who try to change themselves to be more like Thelma, wearing unicorn horns, attaching hooves to their hands and running on all fours. These instances are not scary as much as they are disturbing.

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.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • ‘Pigstagram’ is used like Instagram and looks very similar.
  • A group of male horses perform a song and dance like the ‘Back Street Boys’.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Nikki’s male backup dancers pole dance on her Narwhal horn, using sexy dance moves while they film a music video.
  • A group of broad-shouldered, male backup dancers wear skin-tight leggings with speedos on top and many sport bare chests. They appear throughout the film with their sexy, provocative dance moves.
  • Vic, in a sleazy move, tucks Thelma’s contract into his pants.
  • Thelma is forced to say that Danny is her “stud”.
  • Thelma and Danny are referred to as the, “hot new couple”.
  • Thelma and Danny make a music video about ‘chewing the cud’, which is meant to come off as sexy but is actually kind of gross.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • A character is reputed to have a fake nipple on its chest that doubles as a ninja star.
  • There is a close-up of a man in tight pants, rhythmically moving his butt.
  • Vic is shown in his swimsuit, while he sports a bare, hairy chest. Another character has his chest hair shaved into a heart shape.
  • Thelma is forced to have a fake boyfriend and to pretend that they are in love and that they are the perfect couple.
  • A male character in a singlet flashes a close-up of his thigh and calf, though this image is more gross than sexy.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Thelma mentions that she is so nervous she thinks her heart will drop out of her butt.
  • You ding-dong
  • Heck
  • Dumb
  • Moron.

In a nutshell

Thelma the Unicorn is an animated adventure based on the beloved children’s book by Aaron Blabey. The film features vibrant characters, multiple musical numbers and provides a little insight into some very timely concerns about consumerism, how we see the world around us, how the world may see us, and the toll this can take on everyone. At first glance, this seems to be a film for young children but, due to the content and range of themes, it is more suited to children aged 11 and older, with parental guidance for ages 7 to 10.

The main messages from this movie are to stay true to who you are, to embrace your own uniqueness and never compromise your values just because someone else thinks it is the best way. It is never the only way and it is important to remember your own worth and to let the world see you shine as only you can do.

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

  • Friendship
  • Courage
  • Honesty
  • Dedication
  • Perseverance
  • Integrity.

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

  • Listening to those who tell you that you are not good enough.
  • Excessive commercialism and vanity.
  • Changing who you are to fit an image of what someone else thinks you should be.
  • Putting aside your values and self-respect for the sake of fame and fortune.
  • Ostracising those who don’t fit into the conventional mould society has constructed and who dare to live outside the box, seeing the world not simply as it is but for how it could become.
  • Looking at how the media portrays things and people and using that as the benchmark for reality instead of remembering how people (especially celebrities) are manipulated to appear a specific way, often portraying unrealistic standards that make others (especially children and teens) feel inadequate or worthless.