Short Circuit (PG, 1986)
common sense media says
Funny, bullet-proof robot might charm older kids.
parents & educators say
- 57% say language is an issue
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that from the opening scene -- which shows robots attacking and blowing up mannequins and heavy war machinery -- to the closing moments -- when bad guy-soldiers are trying to destroy the beloved robot-hero -- guns, rifles, lasers, and automatic weaponry are fired at regular intervals. No one is injured or killed, but the lovable robot character is in danger throughout. Also expect frequent, angry and/or frustrated swearing and mild profanity in many sequences.
Violence & scariness:
All cartoon/fantasy violence. Cars, equipment, mannequins blow up; lots of gunfire, though no one is hit or injured except robots, who almost always bounce back; physical scuffles on two occasions between young woman and ex-boyfriend; Three Stooges hits and slaps in several video excerpts; runaway truck causes cartoon mayhem; machine gun and laser attacks on robots.
Sexy stuff:
One gentle kiss. Some mild sexual innuendo with one character's continued misuse of words and expressions.
Language:
Frequent cursing: "hell" "damnit," "God damn," "pissed off," "Jesus," "fart," "red-ass," "son-of-a-bitch," "bulls--t," "bastard," "dips--t," "holy s--t," "asshole."
Consumerism:
Product placement is pervasive: Dr. Pepper, Brawny, MacIntosh, Pemco, Colgate, Alaska Air, Oreida, Volkswagen, Texaco, Campbell Soups. Some humor is derived from robot regurgitating familiar 1980s commercials.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Robots are shown preparing and serving cocktails at party. Elderly couple at police roadblock briefly refer to the "grass in the glove compartment."
More on Short Circuit
Review It
Most useful reviews by all members
Ashwin.K.
parent of 6 and 10 year old
parent of 6 and 10 year old
Too much bad language for our taste; otherwise great movie.
The movie itself is very good, but has a lot of foul language like "sh*t" and "a**hole". Quite unnecessary for such a wonderful story. Without this it would be quite the classic. Someone should make an edited version of it.
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dawnmbowers
parent of and 3 , 8 , 9 year old
parent of and 3 , 8 , 9 year old
Not good for kids (and the acting is poor anyway)
I guess I forgot how much swearing and sexual references were in this movie, not to mention that the acting (especially by Ally Sheedy) is just poor. There is a lot of swearing and even an actor saying he is "sporting a woody." Too bad as the story plot is kind of cute but I would say this movie is really not appropriate for kids at all.
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trnlvr
parent of 6 year old
parent of 6 year old
Not the movie I remember!
My almost-5-year-old LOVED Wall*E so when I came across a Short Circuit DVD, I just knew he'd get a kick out of that. Being rated PG, I figured it was safe so let him watch it without me in the room. I'd obviously forgotten about all the language because when I heard the "mild" profanity, it shocked me. All I remembered was how funny the robot was & how engaging. Fortunately, my son doesn't know the words they used were bad words - he doesn't hear those in our home - so it went over his head but I'm not going to give him the chance to learn them. I gave the DVD away. Sad, too, because it's such a cute movie otherwise.
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Ghost Rider Sky
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
the only cuss words in this is p-ss,s--t,h-ll,d--n,b---h,b-----d,dips--t,bulls--t,holy s--t a-s and a--hole
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kboulia
parent of and 5 , 7 , 9 year old
parent of and 5 , 7 , 9 year old
This movie has very inappropriate language throughout the entire movie. If it were one or two times, I would overlook it, but the variety of curse words combined with the frequency make this movie inappropriate for children under 12, and even then I'm not sure I want my 12 year old hearing some of this language.
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mcarthey
adult
adult
Not as good as I remember
I had purchased this movie in a used store because I remembered liking it as a child. My children (6 and 9) wanted to see it due to their fascination with robots. I turned it off shortly after realizing the amount of language in it was appalling. There is also an early scene where Ally Sheedy is being abused by her (apparent) boyfriend (pushed and yelled at). There is no real family values in the movie and there are many better choices for a peaceful evening.
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24cool
kid, 8 years old
kid, 8 years old
A good movie for 8 year olds
I saw this movie when I was 5 overal I had no idea it had bad language sex consumerism and drinking drugs and smoking I just knew it was sort of violent
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DLJones3423
adult
adult
Still as funny now as it was
My husband and I laughed hysterically while watching this older movie with our kids. My only objection to having our 5 and 6 year old sons watching it was the swearing. We had to have a discussion about why we don't talk like that. And the opening scene was a little scary. But they loved the rest of the movie and begged to watch it again. The little sexual innuendos went right over their heads, as we had expected. Our tween daughter was indifferent to the movie at first, but she enjoyed it eventually.
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Yolie8778
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
Good for Tweens
It's a good sleep-over movie for tweens. They know that the language is wrong and can be ok with the other stuff. Yeah, language is bad, but it would be ok for tweens.
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starwars reviewer
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
Where did the acting go?
What can one say about this?
A. It has a huge stereotype with an Indian man who is not even played by an Indian man:
B. Would you take it well if a robot showed up in your home?
C. He is alive? Really? Any more cliches?
D. Who ripped off who? Did this rip WallE or did WallE rip this?
E. all of the above:
The answer is E! A cute movie for younger kids, but not the best for a movie lover.
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mamalisa03
parent of 9 , 10 , 12 , and 19 year old
parent of 9 , 10 , 12 , and 19 year old
Way too much absolutely unnecessary swearing
Way too much swearing, every three minutes there is a new swear word used. every swear word is used in this movie, including the "f" word disguised by a robot flipping his finger. I was embarrassed to watch this with our 9, 10, and 12 year olds.
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