Unforgettable Films For LGBT+ History Month
To celebrate LGBT+ History Month this February, we’ve rounded up some top film picks for young people. Films and TV shows can be an excellent medium and springboard to help parents and educators navigate conversations in the classroom, or at home.
Onward
mild fantasy threat, very mild bad language
Two brothers, who are elves, decide to use magic to bring back their father for a day because he died when they were too young to know him. The film deals with bereavement and loss in a sensitive manner.
threat and horror
There are action scenes in which the heroes find themselves in threatening and dangerous situations. These include being caught in a burning building, chased by a pixie biker gang, attempting to cross a wide chasm, dodging booby traps in a cave and battling a dragon creature. There is also occasional threat from weapons wielded by unsympathetic characters, such as a bottle and bike chains, but no undue emphasis is placed on them.
language
There is very mild bad language such as 'screw up', 'screwed up', 'dang it', 'son of a...' and 'what the...'.
alcohol and tobacco
Adult characters drink alcohol.
theme
The film's story involves the young heroes coming to terms with the death of their father. The issue of death and bereavement is handled sensitively and in a reassuring manner.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
mild violence, very mild threat, rude humour, language
A family's road trip is interrupted by an uprising of robots from which they must save humankind. This family animation features some mild threat but it is swiftly resolved and unlikely to upset the youngest viewers.
violence
There are occasional mild scenes of comical fantasy action violence, including explosions, blasts of energy and stylised martial arts blows. An evil robot is beheaded during a fight scene and others are speared or sliced in half, creating small sprays of black oil. There are no realistic injuries.
threat and horror
There are occasional scenes of very mild fantasy threat, such as when humans are captured during a robot uprising, and when the heroes are confronted by a giant roaring Furby toy. However, the tension is broken up with action and comedy, and the threat is always reassuringly resolved.
language
Very mild bad language includes the terms ‘butt’ and ‘jerk’.
rude humour
Infrequent very mild rude humour includes a joke about a dog 'sniffing butts'.
nudity
There is a comic scene of implied nudity in which people are apparently naked but any nudity is concealed by objects.
injury detail
While robots are seen being injured, the injuries are not realistic.
Tomboy
contains mild violence and occasional natural nudity
From French filmmaker Celine Sciamma, Tomboy is centred on 10-year-old Laure, whose family move to a new neighbourhood on the outskirts of Paris during the summer holidays.
violence
Infrequent scenes of mild violence includes a fight between two children roll on the ground but are not shown delivering any serious blows. Later, a mother slaps a young girl, but soon clams down and offers her love and support to her daughter.
nudity
There are brief scenes of natural female nudity, including brief genital nudity, as a young girl inspects her chest and stands in a bath. The sequences are narratively significant as she considers how long she can continue her deception in passing for a boy among her male friends.
In one scene, the girl is kissed by another girl of her own age (who thinks that she is a boy). However, this only indicates an innocent childish crush that develops between them.
Strange World
mild fantasy threat
A family of explorers journeys to a mysterious subterranean realm to save their world in this colourful animated sci-fi adventure. Fantastical family-friendly battles and thrills ensue as they face bizarre alien creatures.
threat and horror
There are scenes of mild fantasy threat when the heroes are pursued by jellified creatures with tentacles, who attack their spaceship. They later surround the teenage hero as though meaning to kill him, but he is rescued. There are a few jump scares when colourful monster-like creatures chase the humans. Though threat is sustained, it is usually broken up with comedy and a focus on the bravery of the characters.
The film features very mild bad language ('butt' and 'God'). During a brief comic scene of rude humour a dog is shown peeing. There is very mild violence when a man uses a flamethrower to fend off alien-like jelly creatures. In a comic scene a cute blobby character slaps a boy across the face. A woman who is fighting a tentacled creature manages to pierce it using a fantastical weapon, a tentacle comes off and she is covered in gunky liquid.
Lightyear
mild threat, violence
A hero embarks on a rescue mission in this animated sci-fi adventure, with rollercoaster action familiar from the TOY STORY films. However, some of the film's themes of aging and grief may upset very young children.
violence
Mild violence is of a wholly fantastical nature as good and bad characters battle each other with sci-fi laser weapons, explosive devices and darts with knockout properties. There is no realistic injury detail.
threat and horror
There are scenes of fantastical threat as characters are chased and menaced by robots and other creatures intent on doing them harm. Characters are also endangered by malfunctioning space vessels, but work together to escape their predicaments and achieve reassuring outcomes. Although scenes of threat are occasionally prolonged, the intensity is broken up by comic moments.
language
The film also features very mild bad language ('screwed up').
theme
There is very mild emotional upset as a character learns of the death of a close friend from old age during his absence through a hologram message she has left him.
