Red One

What’s it about?

When a villain snatches Santa Claus from the North Pole, an E.L.F. (Extremely Large and Formidable) agent teams up with the world’s top tracker to bring him back and save Christmas.

Red One is rated PG but may not be suitable for all tamariki. Before watching, we recommend reading our watch guide below, and viewing the trailer, to get a sense of the film’s tone and some of the scenes or characters that may be too intense for younger viewers.

The facts 

• Directed by Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level)
• Stars Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, J.K. Simmons 
• English language
• Runtime: 123 minutes

Why did it get this rating? 

This film was cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body. You can find out more about cross-rating here.

Violence

There are a few scenes with violence, mainly fight sequences, involving some weapons but no blood. The strongest moments include:

• A high-speed chase with snowmobiles and a large vehicle, which smash into buildings and bridges, triggering an avalanche. Two people come off their snowmobiles, but no details of injuries are shown. 
• A character fends off a group of people who attack him with tasers by kicking, hitting and shoving them. Some accidentally paralyse each other with the tasers. 
• Monstrous snowmen attack characters by throwing, strangling and attempting to slash them with ice swords. One character is stabbed in the chest, causing them to freeze over. 
• A snowman’s face is held down on a barbeque, causing them to melt.
• Two characters have a competition to see who can slap the other’s face the hardest. Both of them manage to deliver a smack so hard that it throws their opponent to the ground.
• Characters fight a giant ogre with tentacles which tries to strangle them and hurls them to the ground.

Scary scenes

Red One has dark fantasy elements that may frighten young viewers. There are quite a few creepy characters including an evil witch, a giant ogre with tentacles, a ram-like demigod, a headless horseman, a sinister jack-o-lantern, living gargoyles, a cyclops, and giant snowmen. In one scene, there’s a party at with a number of beast-like characters. 

An evil witch possesses ‘naughty’ people and traps them in snow globes as punishment. When characters are possessed their eyes roll back, turning a glowing blue, which may be unsettling for tamariki.

Coarse language 

The words “sh*t” and “a*shole” are used twice, “bullsh*t” once, and a character says “what in the actual f-,” with the last part of the word bleeped out. Other coarse language includes “damn,” “dickhead,” “hell,” “shut up,” and “good god”.

Sexual references

One of the characters eyes up a woman wearing a bikini while at the beach. 

When content stays with you: 

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.  

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information 

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?