Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 7 March 2011.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Handy Manny Motorcycle Adventure contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Handy Manny and his tools are off to Manny’s family reunion. But before they go, the need go to the hardware store and buy a spark plug to fix Manny’s motorbike. A little way into their journey, they almost run out of petrol and find a service station, yet the pump is broken. The tools must work together to fix the pump of the petrol pump. Meanwhile, Pat the Hammer starts seeking out his own family, getting stuck in a hardware delivery truck that sends Manny and the rest of the tools on a chase to catch the truck. However Manny takes a short cut and must deal with cows on the road, a flat tyre and getting across a large ravine one the way. Manny finally catches the truck and saves Pat, then heads off to his family reunion. The tools have a great time at the reunion, with Pat happy that he has a great family in Manny and the tools.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

None of concern

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

None of concern

Material that may scare children

Under five

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

Handy Manny contains a few scenes of peril that may disturb some children under five:

• Pat the Hammer, Flicker the Torch, and Squeeze the Pliers get stuck in a truck that leaves the petrol station where Manny is filling the motorbike.
• Manny almost hits a cow, veers off the road and gets a flat tyre
• Manny and the tools get stuck on one side of a ravine with no bridge. Manny decides to jump over the ravine on his motorbike.

Children aged 5-8

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Nothing of concern

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern.

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

None of concern

The movie's message

is a story about the importance of friendship and family, and the definition of family being more than simply blood relatives. It is the first story on a DVD of the same name.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• making time for family and friends
• working together as a team to get a task done
• helping others in need
  

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Running away on your own like Pat the Hammer puts you at risk and will make your family and friends worry about you.