Story
Emma Wishbone (Emily Watson) is down on her luck: her husband Frank (Nick Frost) is always working or sleeping, her daughter Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) is struggling through the difficulties of adolescence, her son Max (Ethan Rouse) is getting bullied at school, and her bookstore is in debt. Emma can’t even walk down the street without encountering a series of unfortunate events. She accidentally makes a call to Dracula (Jason Isaacs), who instantly falls in love with her and decides to make her his vampire bride. Dracula bribes an ancient witch, Baba Yaga (Catherine Tate), to transform Emma but the witch accidentally transforms the whole Wishbone family into monsters.
The Wishbones set off to find Baba Yaga in the hope that she’ll transform them back. But they end up banished to the Egyptian desert and more alone than they’ve ever been before. To save not only each other but also the world, they must face their fears, find their inner strength, and learn to love and accept themselves.
Themes
Family breakdown; bullying; the supernatural
Violence
Monster Family has some violence. For example:
Sexual references
Monster Family has some sexual references, including when Dracula talks about Emma being ‘his’ forever, despite the fact that she’s already married.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Monster Family shows some use of substances, including when Dracula feeds Emma pills that work almost instantaneously to curb her thirst for blood. Hoping that she’ll kill her family, Dracula makes Emma take another pill, which makes her thirst for blood again.
Nudity and sexual activity
Monster Family shows some partial nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Vampire Emma wears extremely low riding pants that expose her bare midriff.
- A group of bikini-clad models hang all over Frank after he rescues them from being stuck in the desert. Their chaperone, also scantily clad, approaches them, telling them that she, ‘will take it from here girls’. The camera angle is shot from behind her bare legs.
- Dracula repeatedly tries to kiss Emma.
Product placement
Nothing of concern
Coarse language
Monster Family has some coarse language and name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Monster Family is a predictable animated adventure about a dysfunctional family, the members of which are transformed into stereotyped horror movie monsters.
The movie is aimed at young audiences, but it isn’t recommended for children under seven years because of its violence, disturbing themes and physical transformations, which might be scary for young children. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged 7-10 years.
The main messages from this movie are that the power of love is far stronger than the power of evil, that each of us is braver than we think, and that beauty comes from within. We don’t need others to tell us that we’re beautiful because beauty is about how we see ourselves, not how others see us.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include loyalty, devotion, self-belief, determination and helpfulness.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the following:
- Pills: Emma takes pills from Dracula and while they help her, this probably wouldn’t be the case in real life.
- Bullying: Max is severely bullied not only by peers but also by his sister, but the movie doesn’t show the real consequences of this. It’s important for children to realise that they have a voice and the power to speak out against bullying.