Wonder Woman 1984

image for Wonder Woman 1984

Short takes

Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 14 (violence and scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Wonder Woman 1984
  • a review of Wonder Woman 1984 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 29 December 2020.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 12–14 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes.
Children over the age of 14 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: Wonder Woman 1984
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Action violence
Length: 151 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Wonder Woman 1984 begins several decades after the original movie and finds Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) working as a curator in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. When a new colleague starts work as a gemologist, a shy Dr Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), she is immediately asked by the FBI to look into the origins of a stolen artefact, a citrine rock embedded in a base engraved with Latin words that say that those who hold it should make a wish. Diana jokingly asks for her departed partner Steve (Chris Pine) to come back, and Barbara wishes she could be much more like Diana, smarter, stronger and sexier. They soon discover that the rock does indeed grant their wishes when Diana meets a man whose body has been inhabited by Steve. Barbara also transforms into a much stronger and more attractive woman, and later into the villain Cheetah. However, the greater villain is a failed businessman, Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), who charms Barbara and steals the rock.

Now in possession of the powerful rock, Lord is determined on becoming the most powerful man in the world. He grants everyone their greatest wish, which sees the world descend into chaos. Emir Said Bin Abydos (Amr Waked) wishes for his ancestral lands to be returned, subsequently a wall instantly appears and many people are displaced. Riots on the streets of America with burning and looting become common and many people are homeless. There is a threat of nuclear war with the Russians and missiles are let loose. Wonder Woman has a big task ahead of her to save the planet from destruction.

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.

Superheroes; Warfare; Descent of mankind; Lives in peril.

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 child falls from a horse but is unhurt. A woman falls from a great height.
  • Robbers steal items from a store. They drop a gun on their way out causing everyone to scream and panic. The police aim guns and fire at the robbers. One of the robbers grabs a girl and holds her over a balcony threatening to drop her.
  • A drunk approaches Barbara while walking alone in a park. He starts to hassle her and then attacks her. Wonder Woman arrives in time and knocks him out.
  • The same drunk approaches Barbara after she has had her wish fulfilled. The former, kind and thoughtful, Barbara, is now a vicious aggressor. She repeatedly kicks the man, throws him and kicks him again onto the road. He is seen with blood on his face.
  • One scene shows a woman wishing her husband would go back to where he came from. He wishes she'd drop dead, which she appears to.
  • A sonic boom destroys everything in its path.
  • In a flashback, Max sees his father hitting his mother and yelling at him. Max was obviously poor and teased at school.

There is also a lot of violence in this movie, which is very stylised and unrealistic, including:

  • Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to capture the bandits and ties them up with it. She also kicks them and throws them out of a window.
  • Wonder Woman kicks a speeding car, causing it to spin around.
  • A bride is knocked over a bridge and Wonder Woman flies down to save her.
  • Wonder Woman and Steve chase after Max who is in a convoy of trucks. The trucks push Wonder Woman and Steve off the road. Wonder Woman causes some of the trucks to crash. Security guards fire from a tank at Wonder Woman and Steve. Wonder Woman hangs underneath a truck and is dragged along. Steve smashes the car into the tank, destroying it. The trucks roll over. Steve and Wonder Woman get into a physical fight with the guards and Wonder Woman is seen with blood on her shoulder.
  • Wonder Woman and Barbara fight. Barbara has become very powerful and Wonder Woman seems to be losing. She is seen with blood on her arms.
  • Barbara throws men across the room.
  • Wonder Woman and the Cheetah fight in a prolonged fight scene. They swing through the air on Wonder Woman's lasso and fall underwater. The Cheetah appears dead and Wonder Woman brings her to the surface.

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:

  • There are some scary characters in the movie, particularly the villains, Max Lord and the Cheetah.

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.

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:

  • As a child, Diana competes against adult female warriors and almost wins. She is often in danger of falling from heights and being hurt by gladiatorial gymnastics. At one point she leaps across a mountain ridge on horseback.

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.

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:

  • Max holds the stone and wishes to be it - the room starts to spin and things go flying everywhere.
  • Wonder Woman saves some children who are in the path of a rocket. She lifts them up with her lasso but it breaks and they fall to the ground. She manages to get them out just in time.
  • As Max becomes more powerful, his body seems to deteriorate. His eyes are seen to bleed, then his ears, then his nose.
  • A flashback shows slaves being whipped and having to work hard while men hold swords over them.
  • As the Cheetah, Barbara is a very scary character. She looks evil with a cat-like face, black marks on her face and horrible black eyes.
  • Max becomes quite evil and manic with all his power. He laughs like a crazy man.

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 further of concern.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is a romance between Wonder Woman and Steve, her long lost love.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

  • A naked female warrior statue is shown.
  • Barbara and Max kiss and fondle each other.
  • Diana and Steve kiss and wake up in bed the next morning. Nothing graphic is shown.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Drinking at several events: at home, at dinner and functions etc.
  • Max takes some substances to calm his anxiety.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Shit
  • Oh God
  • Bitch
  • Oh hell
  • Bastard.

In a nutshell

Wonder Woman 1984 is an action movie based on the DC Wonder Woman character. It is fast paced and quite intense at times. Wonder Woman is a brave and selfless female character who doesn't like the use of guns, preferring her golden lasso She is also powerful but kind and empathetic, making her a good female role model albeit somewhat unrealistic. However, due to the content, the movie is not suitable for children under 12 and parental guidance is recommended for children to 15.

The main messages from this movie are that the greater good should override personal desire and that redemption is always possible.

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

  • A strong female lead character
  • Bravery and heroism
  • Loyalty
  • Truth
  • Empathy
  • Selflessness.

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

  • Barbara was originally a shy, kind and caring person who transforms into a cruel and greedy character. This could be disturbing for children who might wonder why this would happen.
  • Steve inhabits the body of another man but in reality, this cannot happen.
  • Greed usually leads to despair and destruction and is self-annihilating.