Canterville Ghost, The

Story

Set in early 20th-century England, this is the story of Hiram Otis (voice of David Harewood), who moves his family – wife Lucretia (Meera Syal), teenage daughter Virginia (Emily Carey) and twin sons Kent (Bennett Miller) and Louis (Jakey Schiff) – from the US to the English countryside. The family moves into Canterville Chase, an old manor house, despite being warned that the house is haunted.

The family doesn’t believe in ghosts, but when the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville (Stephen Fry) relentlessly taunts them, they have to admit that he exists. Not to be outdone, they exchange friendly banter with him and the boys tease him mercilessly.

Virginia, however, takes pity on Sir Simon, who has been haunting Canterville Chase for 300 years since his wife died. It was rumoured that he had killed her but it was actually an accident. Sir Simon can be free only if Virginia will accompany him to the Angel of Death.

Virginia goes with Sir Simon, not realising that this will cause her own death. But she returns to life and marries Henry, the Duke of Cheshire (Freddie Highmore).

Themes

The supernatural; death and dying; legends

Violence

The Canterville Ghost has some violence. For example:

The previous owner slips and knocks himself out. When he awakes, he screams at the ghost.
Louis and Kent play at sword fighting.
Virginia throws a book at the twins.
Sir Simon takes his head off, and the boys use it as a football. They kick and throw it to each other.
A crow attacks Henry while he’s riding his horse. He’s thrown off the horse.
Virginia feels like her own throat is cut when she sees a gardener in a gated garden cut a rose stem. She faints and falls off the wall.
Virginia sees an image of a man in the lake. She falls into the lake and is trapped by weeds. Henry comes to her rescue.
Sir Simon threatens the crow with his sword.
Sir Simon and Virginia have a pretend sword fight.
Sir Simon throws knives at the vicar and sandwiches at the vicar’s wife, Angelique, the phantasmagorical investigator.
Sir Simon gets electrocuted when he touches a switch.
Sir Simon attacks Henry with his sword, because of a long family feud.
Sir Simon appears at a reception and throws objects. He sends the musicians flying into the ceiling and sends Angelique spinning. He smashes all the new light bulbs Hiram has installed, and glass shatters everywhere. He sets fire to the curtains, which sets the whole house on fire.
The maid gets hit by a laser gun, turns purple and collapses.
Angelique fires the laser gun at Sir Simon, but Virginia deflects it and Angelique gets knocked out instead.
Sir Simon and the Angel of Death fight with swords. Sir Simon and the ghost of the former Duke of Cheshire fight with swords, which go right through both their bodies.
Virginia uses a sword to fight a dragon. She chops off one of its claws.

Sexual references

The Canterville Ghost has some sexual references, including the romance between Virginia and Henry.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Canterville Ghost shows some use of substances. For example, characters drink alcohol at dinner and at a party.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in The Canterville Ghost.

Product placement

There’s product placement in The Canterville Ghost.

Coarse language

The Canterville Ghost has some mild coarse language, including ‘butt’, ‘damn’ and ‘what the heck’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Canterville Ghost is an animated version of the comic short story of the same name by Oscar Wilde. Its themes include life and death, tragedy and wrong accusations. This new movie has a stellar voice cast and is quite entertaining. It also features a strong female character who needs saving on one occasion but saves others far more often.

Many scenes in The Canterville Ghost are likely to frighten younger children, so it isn’t suitable for children under 8 years. It’s more suitable for children aged 10 years and over.

These are the main messages from The Canterville Ghost:

Love is stronger than death or life.
Make the most out of life because it passes so quickly.

Values in The Canterville Ghost that you could reinforce with your children include empathy, courage, bravery and friendship. The movie also emphasises the use of reason and logic to overcome fear.

The Canterville Ghost could give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the best way to understand the world – scientific reasoning or myths and legends. The Otis family believes in the former and therefore deals with the ghost in a rational way. This could give spark a conversation about how you can overcome fear by applying facts and reasoning. This movie could also give you the chance to discuss your own beliefs about life after death.