Cranston Academy: Monster Zone

Story

Danny Dawkins (voice of Jamie Bell) is a 15-year-old science whizz who’s teased at school for being a genius. A teacher called Miss Evans recruits Danny to the Cranston Academy, where he meets fellow student and roommate, Liz (Ruby Rose). At last, Danny feels understood but is dismayed to find that the head of the school, Professor Stern, dislikes having him there on a scholarship. Danny feels he needs to invent something amazing to prove his worth and keep his place at the school.

Danny discovers an abandoned and broken atomic particle reactor, which he decides to repair. But he gets into trouble when, with Liz’s help, he fixes the reactor and opens a portal to a fifth dimension. Inside the dimension is a world full of monsters who are intent on causing harm.

When the monsters escape through the portal, the real problems begin. Danny and Liz must find a way to get them back and close the portal forever.

Themes

Science fiction; monsters; fantasy

Violence

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone has some violence. For example:

There’s a lot of comedy slapstick throughout.
A professor is zapped by electrical volts. This causes explosions and makes him scream.
Danny is taunted by bullies, who chase after him. They pull Danny out of a toilet cubicle and attack him.
Miss Evans puts the bullies into a bubble.
A boy appears, covered in soot and with flames coming from his head.
A large monster rises up out of a lake and grabs Danny by the leg, pulling him into the water. A flying monster appears and scares the first one away but chases Danny back to the portal.
The monsters take over the school, causing chaos. Mothman uses a knife to fend off a snake attack.
A ‘brain’ appears to eat Danny.
Mothman and another monster fight in a wrestling match.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Cranston Academy: Monster Zone.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone shows some use of substances. For example, substances are used to kill some creatures and to immobilise others. Other creatures are enlarged by substances.

Nudity and sexual activity

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone has some nudity. For example, Mothman removes most of his clothes to wrestle.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Cranston Academy: Monster Zone.

Coarse language

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone has some coarse language, including ‘bloody’. There’s also some name-calling, including ‘Einstein’, ‘momma’s boy’, ‘dummy’ and ‘you suck’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone is an animated monster movie, which is quite funny. It’s also quite scary in parts and therefore isn’t suitable for young children. We recommend parental guidance for children aged 7-8 years who might be scared by the movie’s content.

The main messages from Cranston Academy: Monster Zone are that genius is a product of great minds working together, and that you can achieve more by working collaboratively with others.

Values in Cranston Academy: Monster Zone that you could reinforce with your children include:

working as a team
valuing success and achievement
giving your best effort.

Cranston Academy: Monster Zone could also give you the chance to with your children about real-life issues like bullying. Why do children who bully behave this way? Is it because they fear people who are different?