The Magician’s Elephant | 2023 | PG | – 0.3.1

Why is “The Magician’s Elephant” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some action/peril and thematic elements.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes dangerous activities undertaken by a young boy, a young boy being mistreated by his guardian, discussions of loved ones dying in war, several scenes of an elephant being maltreated and being chained, soldiers threatening to shoot an elephant, several arguments and threats of violence, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A magician (voiced by Benedict Wong) carelessly makes an elephant fall from the ceiling in a depressing town and both are sent to jail. A young boy (voiced by Noah Jupe), who was told by a fortune teller (voiced by Natasia Demetriou) that to find his lost sister he must follow an elephant, is tasked by the king (voiced by Aasif Mandvi) to perform three impossible challenges in order to free the captive beast. Also with the voices of Mandy Patinkin, Brian Tyree Henry, Miranda Richardson and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. Directed by Wendy Rogers. [Running Time: 1:43]

The Magician’s Elephant SEX/NUDITY 0

 – None.

The Magician’s Elephant VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – Scenes include a huge soldier with a long saber chasing a young boy: we hear grunting and the soldier runs through a brick wall unharmed, both characters wade through high water, the boy trades his saber for a large fish, gives the fish to cats to block a street, dashes home to get a book and returns to meet the soldier on a bridge, where the man cuts a concrete balustrade and a metal street lamp post in half as he yells and swings his sword toward the boy but stops when he sees the book. A boy evades a large sword-swinging soldier with the distraction of a book; the boy stands on the peak of a roof, falls, hangs on and steps off with a parachute to land with a thud but is not hurt. A young malnourished boy must complete three hazardous, strenuous, impossible tasks in order to follow an elephant to find his sister.
► Causing golden swaths of sparks, an inept magician brings an elephant crashing loudly through his stage ceiling, landing on the legs of a woman (the animal is uninjured) as the crowd boos several times and gasps; we hear that the man is jailed and we see the woman in a wheelchair sitting outside his jail cell, yelling at him and claiming her legs were crushed; the woman later stands up and seems fine.
► An elephant is shown chained in a large building, struggling against ankle chains and rubbing its eye with her trunk because it is irritated by the paint on her sides and face; the elephant trumpets, growls, stomps, and knocks down a young boy who washes its eye and then takes a trunkful of water and washes off the paint. Soldiers point rifles at an elephant and a man later shouts, “Shoot it,” but a woman tells them to stop.
► A captive elephant dreams that it is in the wild with family; the herd enters a lake and the elephant goes under the surface and is stuck by leg chains and it startles awake. A boy dreams that he and an elephant romp on clouds that turn into water and they swim together. An elderly man in a makeshift wheelchair and a young boy argue several times with the man yelling; he makes the boy march and recite a military rhyme every day and he allows the boy to eat only one-half of a tiny fish and a small piece of stale bread daily and he instructs the boy that life is not a fairy tale. A woman dreams of a war where we see large flames and hear muffled explosions; she runs through flaming streets with an infant, a man runs through flames with a young boy and a soldier supports a limping soldier. We see soldiers march by and a narrator says that all the men went off to war, leaving the whole town sad and unable to experience joy under their permanently overcast skies.
► A man laughs at everything, even the possibility of a young boy being killed by the sword of a large soldier, saying that everything is entertaining; he repeatedly tries to make a frowning woman laugh, but she just glares at him. A man is shot from a cannon as we hear a muffled boom and see smoke; we then see the man standing in the foreground and the cannon in the background as another man laughs. A boy falls to make a woman laugh with a joke as people around him groan; a king laughs and the boy shouts angrily, whereupon an elephant takes a trunkful of water and sprays the king, which makes the woman laugh. An elderly man limps up a hill with a cane and finds a crowd watching an elephant; a magician mumbles silently for several seconds as the people all close their eyes and the elephant disappears.
► A boy visits a palm reader that lives in a dimly-lit tent and she tells the boy to follow an elephant to find his long-lost sister. We hear that a woman never laughs because her brother died in war. We hear that a mother and father died in war and their young son and infant daughter also died. A boy’s guardian lied about the boy’s sister being dead. A woman talks about her several failed attempts to become a mother and says she cannot face the chance to adopt a boy, because this may also fail.
► A young boy and younger girl point fingers at each other, causing magical golden streams to appear. A girl punches a boy’s arm in two scenes and each time he yelps in pain.

The Magician’s Elephant LANGUAGE 1

 – Name-calling (magic man, circus tent, weird, dangerous), exclamations (stiffen the wicks, oh my goodness, balderdash, what the …, whoa, whooo, ooh, wow, hey, huzzah, whammo), 4 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, God). | profanity glossary |

The Magician’s Elephant SUBSTANCE USE

 – A few men at a celebration hold goblets and they do not drink.

The Magician’s Elephant DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – War, death, loss, sadness, ennui, lies, secrets, child abuse, orphans, childlessness, loneliness, helpfulness, self-centeredness, problem solving, accepting help, apologizing, considering the needs of others, family, magic, belief, the negative image of Americans in the rest of the world.

The Magician’s Elephant MESSAGE

 – Dreams can come true because with hope, anything is possible.