Story

Ollie (voiced by Michael B. Jordan) is a curious little animal called a pookoo, who lives on a secluded island in a valley. Ollie’s parents teach him to be afraid of all other animals. This is because there was once an evil firewolf (voiced by Tracey Morgan) who set the valley on fire and threatened the survival of all animals. Despite his parents’ warnings, Ollie befriends a bird-like creature known as a javan and teaches her how to eat the seeds found on his island. Using this knowledge, the rest of the javan descend on the island and eat all its seeds, threatening the survival of all pookoo.

Years later, the adult Ollie is reduced to hunting for scraps left by the javan. He accidentally lands on a magical pod and is transformed into the body of a javan. He meets Ivy (voiced by Juno Temple), who turns out to be the same javan Ollie met as a young child. Ivy also accidentally touches a pod and is turned into a pookoo.

Forced into each other’s bodies, Ivy and Ollie must learn to work together to return to their original forms. But things become much more complicated when the firewolf returns. Can the unlikely duo save their valley and all its animals before it’s too late?

Themes

Adventure; body swapping; starvation; family dynamics; discrimination; misunderstandings; death of a parent; forest fires

Violence

Swapped has some violence. For example:

• Characters argue and insult each other with words like ‘stupid’.
• There are several instances of slapstick-style violence, where characters fall, have their heads hit, and are shoved or pushed. This is sometimes presented as funny, and characters are seriously injured.
• Several characters are killed. Four are killed by fire, one character falls to his death and is crushed, and two other characters are severely injured and presumed dead. It’s later revealed that they’re OK.
• In several scenes, animals chase and try to eat each other.
• Ollie knocks the firewolf into a rock, extinguishing his flames.
• Ollie transforms into a tree creature, and the firewolf sets him on fire.
• Ollie transforms into a javan but his family thinks that a javan ate him. They chase Ollie off a cliff by throwing things at him, and Ollie falls and knocks himself out.
• The firewolf grabs Ivy in his jaws and then tosses her limp and injured body to the ground. Ollie is visibly distressed, shaking Ivy and starting to cry.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Swapped.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Swapped.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity or sexual activity in Swapped.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Swapped.

Coarse language

Swapped has some coarse language, insults and name-calling, including ‘stupid’, ‘big dumb sack of feathers’, ‘you nut-cake’, ‘angry little rat’ and ‘First this idiot, and now you’. There are also several instances of toilet-related humour, with language including ‘dung’ and ‘poo’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Swapped is a visually beautiful animation about adventure and friendship. The buddy quest storyline is somewhat generic, but the movie is a sweet and creative take on the genre that is well suited to families with older children.

Because of its violence and scary scenes, Swapped isn’t suitable for children aged under 8 years. And because the movie has some heavy themes, we recommend parental guidance for children aged 8-11 years.

These are the main messages from Swapped:

• To understand what someone is going through, you need to have empathy and put yourself in their situation.
• Kindness and acceptance are the way through hardship, because we are stronger together.

Values in Swapped that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include teamwork, forgiveness, inner strength, care for others and trust.

Swapped could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues and questions like the following:

• Ollie’s parents teach him that he shouldn’t trust any of the other animals in the valley. You could talk about the implications of this type of thinking in real life. For example, does it lead to racial discrimination and fear of people who are different?
• Ollie and Ivy fight because they don’t understand each other’s perspectives, and this is true for other animals in the valley as well. What would you do differently in this situation? You could talk about the importance of open communication and empathy for others.
• The firewolf is revealed to be the way he is because he was the ‘runt’ and feels left out, bullied and alone. Why is it not OK to hurt others even if you feel hurt yourself? What could the firewolf could have done differently, rather than lashing out at others?