My Sweet Monster

Story

Princess Barbara (voice of Haylie Duff) was very sick as a baby. As a consequence, her father, King Elijah, has spent his life trying to protect her and make sure no harm comes her way.

Barbara lives a very sheltered life, guarded by 3 protective nannies (all voiced by Olga Gunkina), but she loves to read heroic tales. Through shared letters, Barbara has fallen in love with a prince. When an evil postman, Bundy Joyce (voice of Pauley Shore), discovers the content of the letters, he tries to blackmail Barbara into giving him a kiss. When Barbara refuses, Bundy discovers the King’s secret, a small supply of healing water that helps bring life to those who use it. Bundy seizes the vial of water and forces the King to give him his daughter in marriage.

Barbara flees from the palace while Bundy pursues her. She is knocked unconscious and taken prisoner by Rabbit (voice of Josh Wilson) and Bogey (voice of Jon Heder), a half-human, half-beast creature who has been charged by Mother Nature with looking after the forest. Rabbit and Bogey intend to take Barbara back to the castle to collect a reward, but things change when Barbara saves Bogey’s life.

As Bundy assembles a robotic army to locate Barbara and destroy her captors, he stumbles upon the source of the magic water and tries to take everything for himself. Barbara, Bogey and Rabbit must join forces to save the forest, the kingdom and themselves.

Themes

Blackmail; forced marriage; the power of fear; greed; environmental degradation and the gross misappropriation of resources

Violence

My Sweet Monster has some violence. For example:

There’s a story about a violent serpent and the knight preparing to kill it.
Bundy smashes up the King’s laboratory.
A motorcycle runs into a man and picks him up, taking him along on a high-speed chase.
Bundy tries to catch Barbara as she flees the palace. He grabs her scarf while chasing her on a motorbike, loses control when he gets tangled in the scarf, and crashes into the side of the road.
Barbara is knocked off her horse by a tree branch.
Bundy kicks a small animal into a tree.
Bundy falls off a cliff.
Rabbit ties Barbara’s wrists when he takes her prisoner.
A bolt of lightning strikes a man dead.
A man is crushed by a boulder as rocks rain down from the sides of a cavern.
Bogey threatens to punch Barbara.
Bogey is knocked off a cliff. He falls into a raging river and is about to go over a waterfall before Barbara saves him.
Bogey grabs Barbara and runs off with her while she screams.
Bundy tells his army to find Bogey and rip him to pieces.
A plane crashes through a window.
Metallic dogs chase and try to attack Barbara.
A beaver’s home keeps getting crushed, scattered or otherwise destroyed.
Robotic dogs get crushed by rocks.
Bogey hits a dog.
A dog is chased by a round, flying robot, which eventually destroys the dog.
Cars crash into each other trying to avoid Bogey as he races through the city streets trying to save Barbara. He rips off the bars and locks and bursts through her window.
An army of soldiers aims their guns at Bogey.
Bogey is held down and Bundy orders his henchmen to cut off Bogey’s horns, nail the horns to the gate and kill Bogey.

Sexual references

My Sweet Monster has some sexual references. For example:

Princess Barbara gets a letter from a prince, which says, ‘I long to embrace you and whisper sweet love into your ear’. Bundy quotes it to her. Later Barbara’s father also reads it aloud, much to Barbara’s horror.
Bundy demands that Barbara kiss him. He then tries to blackmail her.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

My Sweet Monster shows some use of substances, including when a character drinks wine.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in My Sweet Monster.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in My Sweet Monster.

Coarse language

There’s no coarse language in My Sweet Monster, but there is some name-calling, including ‘idiots’, ‘moron’, ‘silly rabbit’, ‘foolish pedal head’, ‘metal dummy’ and ‘pathetic wimp’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

My Sweet Monster is an animated musical adventure with a stereotypical story. The animation and plot seem to be aimed at younger viewers, but the themes and general content are suited to older audiences. At the same time, the movie might lack interest for children aged over 10 years.

These are the main messages from My Sweet Monster:

Follow your heart as well as your dreams.
Look after the environment, because the earth’s resources are limited, and excessive greed can have catastrophic consequences.

Values in My Sweet Monster that you could reinforce with your children include courage, friendship, teamwork and ingenuity.

My Sweet Monster could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

blackmailing someone to get what you want
kidnapping young women and forcing young girls into marriage
abusing nature, destroying the environment and taking far more than you need
using violence to solve conflict.