Cigarette-smoking, violence, and shooting monkey among complaints to film watchdog

A parent who brought their daughter to see the Disney animation, 'Elio, last July said they had to leave midway through the film due to its adult content, serious violence, and threat.

The Irish Film Classification Office (Ifco) has received complaints over its rating of several children’s animations containing “serious violence”, while the depiction of cigarette smoking in a popular romcom recently left two cinemagoers fuming.

They were among the latest complaints filed by consumers to the statutory agency, which is tasked with examining and certifying movies released here.

The films that were the subject of complaints in the past five months included the Disney Pixar animation, Elio; the Dakota Johnson romcom, Materialists; and the DreamWorks sequel, Bad Guys 2.

One parent who brought their autistic son to see the French stop-motion animation, Savages, in Mullingar last August, got a refund from the cinema after they had to “leave abruptly”.

They were horrified when the “mother monkey” was shot in the film, which was made using 3D-printed models. The parent told Ifco they could not believe Savages was only rated PG.

A couple who went to see Materialists later the same month said they were “utterly dismayed and upset” by scenes in the movie that featured “entirely unnecessary cigarette smoking”.

They told Ifco smoking had done “little or nothing” to develop the plot of characters of the film, and had ruined the rest of the production for them.

A couple who went to see 'Materialists' said they were 'utterly dismayed and upset' by scenes in the movie that featured 'entirely unnecessary cigarette smoking'.

They asked Ifco if it would consider adding a special classification to films, denoting whether cigarette smoking is shown. This would reduce audiences for such films, and filmmakers might consider whether to include depictions of this “devastating hobby”, they suggested.

In response, Ifco said cigarette smoking was considered in the context of age ratings where it involves minors or the glamourisation of the activity, but incidental smoking by adults does not usually determine the rating.

Another parent who brought their daughter to see the Disney animation, Elio, last July said they had to leave midway through the film due to its adult content, serious violence, and threat.

A cinemagoer complained about the 'fighting and violence' in 'Bad Guys 2', some of which involved knives. They had watched the film with their five-year-old child and had found it 'very unsuitable'.

“I’m not sure how it managed to get such a [G] rating, but I would recommend revising it, as it is damaging children,” they warned. “I still can’t believe the violence in an animated Disney movie meant for children.” 

The complainant described themselves as a “very liberal, easy-going parent”, but said their daughter had been upset by what she saw.

In response, Ifco apologised for the unpleasant experience but noted the G rating was accompanied by the advice: “Mild sci-fi violence and threat. Bereavement theme and scenes of bullying.” 

It felt these themes had been handled sensitively overall in the film and were often broken up by moments of humour. It added some scary scenes had been mitigated by the fantasy nature of the story.

Another cinemagoer complained about the “fighting and violence” in Bad Guys 2, some of which involved knives. They had watched the film with their five-year-old child and had found it “very unsuitable”.

Ifco also received a more general complaint regarding a number of Disney children’s movies, which the correspondent said had been rated 6+ on Disney+ but G by the Irish censor.

They said their daughter had recently been “subjected to” Tangled at a childcare facility, and could not sleep afterwards because she kept seeing the witch and violence from the movie, which had made her “very upset”.