Story
In The Son of Bigfoot, 13-year-old Adam (voice of Pappy Faulkner) is a loner. He gets bullied, and school officials describe him as having ‘mid-level acquaintance deficiency’. Adam also has a certain wildness, and strange things have started happening to him. His feet spontaneously grow, causing his toes to pop out of the ends of his shoes. He has super-hearing. And when his hair is cut, it grows back overnight to be long and unruly in the morning.
Adam’s life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers letters written by his supposedly dead father. It turns out that his father’s death was a lie. Upset and determined to find his father, Adam runs off to the address on the letters. This leads him to a forest. In the forest a near fatal accident results in Adam being rescued by Bigfoot (voice of Christopher L. Parson), who turns out to be Adam’s father. Bigfoot faked his own death to escape the giant corporation HairCo and has been hiding out in the forest ever since.
Reunited, Adam and his father form a relationship, and Adam learns how to use his new powers. Their happy time together turns into a rescue mission when the people at HairCo discover that Bigfoot is still alive. Adam has to team up with some new friends, including animals, to save his father.
Themes
‘Bigfoot’ legends; bullying; genetic experiments; superpowers
Violence
The Son of Bigfoot contains physical violence, some of which is meant to be funny. But some involves school bullying and harassment, gun-related violence and intimidation. For example:
Sexual references
The Son of Bigfoot has some sexual references. For example, a scene shows a pregnant raccoon with a big tummy. Characters talk about the suspected sex of the soon-to-be-born racoon babies.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
The Son of Bigfoot shows some use of substances. For example:
- People are shot with tranquiliser darts, which cause them to fall unconscious.
- There are references adrenalin-enhancing superpowers.
Nudity and sexual activity
The Son of Bigfoot shows some mild nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Teenagers and animal characters flirt mildly.
- Bigfoot has a bare hairy chest.
Product placement
Nothing of concern
Coarse language
The Son of Bigfoot has some coarse language and name-calling that younger children might imitate. There’s also some toilet humour. For example, hunters talk about dousing themselves in bear urine and a woman talks sarcastically about not having a toilet inside and having to urinate outside.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Son of Bigfoot is an animated comedy with a simple storyline and lots of action. It’s pitched to a male tween and teenage audience, although some of its themes are more suited to a slightly older audience.
Because of the movie’s themes, violence and coarse language, it isn’t recommended for children under 11 years.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- Self-acceptance is a difficult and challenging part of growing up.
- Sometimes doing the right thing is difficult and painful.
You could talk with your children about the behaviour of the bullies in the movie, the way that the school deals with this behaviour, and the lack of appropriate consequences.