Best friend films to watch
When times get tough, we often look to our closest friends for comfort and laughter to help get us through. In a celebration to best friends, we've listed the certification and ratings info for some of the most iconic movies centred around friendship.
Monsters, Inc.
contains mild comic violence
Monsters, Inc. is an animated adventure in which monsters need to collect children's screams to power their world, but when two monsters befriend a lost human child they try to get her safely home.
Violence
In one scene the villain turns invisible and starts hitting a hero monster, but to onlookers he appears to be comically jerking around.
There are scenes in which colourful monsters 'scare' children, but these moments are not intended to actually scare young viewers. Chase sequences place an emphasis on excitement and humour rather than threat, and while the child character is occasionally scared of the villain the heroes are there to protect and comfort her. In a couple of sequences, characters are threatened as they are put into the seat of a machine which tries to extract their screams by sucking them out through their mouths, but the human girl is quickly saved when confronted with the machine.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
contains very mild language and threat
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 science fiction fantasy in which a young boy meets an alien who is stranded on Earth and who wants to go home.
Language
The film contains some very mild bad language, including uses of 'dammit', 'God', 'hell', 'son of a bitch', 'shit', and one use of 'penis breath' (as a comic insult).
Threat
The main character is initially frightened when he first encounters the alien, screaming in surprise. Later on the character's sister also screams in fright when she first sees the alien but by this point the audience knows the alien is not a threat. When the authorities discover the presence of the alien and come to take him away, there is a sense of threat as several men enter the boy's house to get to the alien. There is also some tension when it appears the alien and the central character are ill and might be dying, and as the scientists administer electric shocks in an attempt to revive the alien.
Up
contains mild threat
Up is a Disney Pixar animated children's film, about an old man who ties thousands of balloons to his home, and sets out to fly to South America, accompanied by a boy scout. Partly Cloudy is the accompanying short animated film with no dialogue, about how clouds fashion baby creatures, to be delivered by friendly storks.
Threat
There is occasional threat in scenes in which a pack of dogs chase and snap at the heroes. A villain sets fire to a house.
Captain Underpants
mild rude humour, comic threat
Captain Underpants is an animated comedy in which two young pranksters cause their mean head teacher to turn into the super hero Captain Underpants.
Casper
contains mild language, violence and ghost horror
The Iron Giant
mild fantasy action violence, infrequent mild bad language
The Iron Giant is an animated adventure, from 1999, about a young boy who befriends a gentle giant robot which has fallen to Earth from space, and which a paranoid government agent wants to destroy
Violence
Fantasy action violence includes repeated sight of a 'living' robot being electrocuted with wires at a power station, and a nightmare sequence in which a vision of violence on Earth features gunfire, explosions, fireballs and natural disasters.
Language
A single use of mild bad language ('screw') and uses of very mild bad language including 'damn' and butt'.
Additional information
The film also contains very mild threatening scenes, comic slapstick and a villain lighting his pipe.
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants
contains mild language and sex references
Sister Act
mild sex references, language, violence, threat
Sister Act is a US comedy, from 1992, in which a lounge singer must go into hiding as a nun after witnessing a murder.
Sex
Infrequent and undetailed references are made to sex and 'hookers'. There is very brief sight of a shop advertising adult films, although no detail is shown.
Language
Infrequent use of mild bad language ('shit', 'ass').
Violence
There is a sequence implying an execution shooting, but this is not shown on screen. Another character is shot in the arm, with brief sight of blood on his suit.
Threat
Characters are occasionally held at gun point or chased by armed men.
Additional information
There are infrequent scenes of adult characters smoking.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
contains moderate sex references, drug use and one use of strong language
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a US drama in which an introverted freshman has difficulties settling in at his new school and making friends.
Sex
There are moderate sex references, including undetailed, comic and throwaway references to oral sex. In one scene, a character recounts a story about a couple who had to resort to using 'sandwich bags' in the absence of condoms. Another scene involves a teenage couple kissing and fumbling but there is no sight of nudity or actual sex.
Drugs
There are two scenes in which illegal drugs are used. In the first, the central character is encouraged to eat a piece of cake which turns out to contain hash. When the drugs take effect, he begins to speak embarrassing nonsense, to the amusement of his friends. In the second scene, the same character places a tab of acid on his tongue. This causes a brief but disorientating and unpleasant 'trip' in which he experiences flashbacks to traumatic events, including the death of a person who was close to him. He subsequently passes out and wakes up in a hospital, being questioned by police,
Language
There is a single use of such strong language ('f**k'), alongside milder terms including 'asshole', 'bitch', 'bullshit', 'dick', 'prick', 'pussy', 'shag', 'shit' and 'son of a bitch'. There is occasional use of discriminatory terms, such as 'gooks', 'fags' and 'spaz', but the film does not endorse the use of discriminatory language or behaviour.
Addtional information
The film suggests that one of the principal characters was sexually abused by an aunt when he was very young. However, any verbal references to this are discreet and oblique and the visual portrayal of the abuse is limited to a couple of flashback images of a hand on a leg.
There is a fight scene that takes place in the school canteen, containing some heavy punches but no clear detail of injury.
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl
moderate sex references, drug references, infrequent strong language
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is a drama about an aspiring filmmaker who befriends a girl from his school who is battling cancer.
Sex
There are some moderate sex references, in particular when one of the young male characters talks about masturbation and another refers to parts of the female anatomy.
Drugs
Two of the characters unwittingly ingest some drugs and start acting in a bizarre and uncontrolled way. Their reaction to the effects of the drug is negative and does not, therefore, promote drug use.
Language
There is a single spoken use of strong language ('f**k'), employed by way of adding emphasis to a statement and not directed at anyone else. There are also some partially bleeped uses of strong language and a partially obscured written use. Other bad language is milder, including uses of 'dick', ''bitch' and 'shit'.
Additional information
The film as a whole has a theme dealing with terminal illness and bereavement.
The Help
racist language and behaviour
The Help is a drama, from 2011, in which a white journalist investigates the racism suffered by black maids working for white families during the 1960s.
Discrimination
Racism is a theme of the film. There are scenes in which black women are discriminated against by their white employers; black women are referred to as being "owned" and are forced to use outside toilets so they don't "infect" the space of the white home owners. There are uses of racist language when white characters refer to black people as 'ni**ers'.
Additional information
There is a scene of crude humour when a woman seeks revenge by making a pie out of her own faeces and offering it to her employer to eat. A woman is seen with blood on her nightgown as she tells another woman that she has had a miscarriage. There is mild bad language ('shit'), mild sex references, which includes a use of the phrase "knocked up", and a scene of implied domestic abuse when a woman backs away in fear from her aggressive husband.