Story
Edda (voice of Gemma Arterton), a young mouse, lives with her dad, Erwin (Lenny Henry) a former Grand Prix champion. Together they run an amusement park on the outskirts of Paris. The park is in financial straits particularly after the death of Edda’s mother. Edda has big dreams of becoming a Grand Prix racer like her dad and is obsessed with Ed (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), a male mouse and the current Grand Prix champion. When Ed injures his arm, Edda comes up with a plan to race in his place, much to Ed’s reluctance. During the tournament, Edda uncovers a sabotage plot to destroy Ed’s chances of winning. Edda has difficulty convincing others, including Ed, of the plot and has to take matters into her own hands.
Themes
Grand Prix animation; loss of a parent; orphans
Violence
Grand Prix of Europe has some violence – for example:
- Throughout the movie lots of cars crash, are pushed aside, hurtle over road edges, fly into the sky, and so on, although no-one is injured.
- A popcorn machine explodes.
- A colour making machine explodes, sending Edda flying.
- A large cat and his cronies threaten Erwin with destroying the park if he doesn’t repay a loan in time.
- Ed injures his arm after crashing into a diner. Rosa the fortune teller pulls his arm roughly to put it back into its socket.
- Huge robotic snowballs fall on the racetrack, causing cars to crash. The snowballs chase after Edda’s car, causing it to flip upside-down, but she manages to jump out.
- The saboteur spills chemicals in his lab which sets fire to a spaceship.
- A large, double-decker bus chases Ed. The engine opens up and looks like a large mouth with big gnashing teeth.
- Drones are used to chase and destroy cars. Edda fires at the drones to destroy them.
- A train is derailed, goes up into the sky and lands back on the road, out of control. It almost smashes into Edda and the grandstand but Ed prevents it with his own car.
Sexual references
Grand Prix of Europe has some sexual references. For example:
- Edda is infatuated with Ed. They hug at the end of the movie.
- A female elephant is dressed and acts very seductively.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There’s no substance use in Grand Prix of Europe.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Grand Prix of Europe.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Grand Prix of Europe.
Coarse language
Grand Prix of Europe has some coarse language – for example, ‘butt’, ‘butt headed’, ‘poo-poo head’ and ‘don’t give me bull’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German theme park Europa-Park, and starring the park's mascots Ed Euromaus and Edda Euromausi, Grand Prix of Europe is a fast action, animated movie full of thrills and spills. It also has some scary scenes and a lot of car crashes, which make it unsuitable for viewers under 5 years, and parental guidance is recommended for 5-6s.
The main messages from Grand Prix of Europe are to follow your dreams; and that looks can be deceptive.
Values in Grand Prix of Europe that you could reinforce with your children include heroism self-sacrifice, courage, team spirit, generosity and moral courage.
Grand Prix of Europe could also give you the chance to talk with your children about how Ed’s arrogance and selfishness are caused by things that happened to him in childhood, and why it’s important to try understand the reasons behind people’s behaviour.