Not recommended under 5, PG to 8 (Violence, Scary scenes)
This topic contains:
Children under 5 | Not recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children aged 5-8 | Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes |
Children over 8 | 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: | Wizard of Oz, The |
Classification: | G |
Consumer advice lines: | None |
Length: | 98 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
Dorothy (Judy Garland) is a young girl who lives with her Aunt and Uncle on a farm in Kansas. A nasty neighbour, Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) threatens to have Dorothy’s dog Toto put down because he bit her. This upsets Dorothy so much she decides to run away with Toto. On the way she meets Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan) who convinces her to return home to her Aunt who is worried sick about her. As she nears home a tornado approaches and Dorothy just manages to get indoors but is knocked out by flying debris.
Dorothy is taken up into the skies inside her home and arrives at the magical land of Oz. There she meets Glinda (Billie Burke) the good witch who tells her she must travel to Emerald City to find the Wizard of Oz who will help her to find her way home. Glinda gives Dorothy a magic pair of ruby slippers to protect her from the Wicked Witch of the West and she sets off down the yellow brick road to find the wizard. Along the way she meets a scarecrow who doesn’t have a brain, a tin man who doesn’t have a heart and a lion who doesn’t have any courage. The four of them go to find the Wizard to help them with all their needs but discover along the way that they already had what they were looking for.
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.
Separation from family
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.
Children in this age group may also be scared or disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.
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.
OK for this age group
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.
OK for this age group
None of concern
None of concern
None of concern
None of concern
There is some coarse language in this movie, including:
The Wizard of Oz is a musical adventure that will appeal to older children. Some of the content is quite scary and is likely to frighten young children.
The main messages from this movie are to face your fears, overcome challenges and realising that what you seek is often already inside you.
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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