• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 13, age appropriate for kids over 15; suggested age 13.

• Is it any good?

  4.0

• Common Sense says

  Hilarious but edgy animated shorts mix funny and iffy stuff.

Why We Rated This for Ages 13–15

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  The site challenges young animators to enter a 2- to six-minute video in the ABE Toons Talent Search, a cartooning contest that will close Aug. 9, 2009. The grand prize winner will get $4,000 and a chance to produce a network cartoon series.
• User-created content:

  There were only three contest submissions on the site in mid July 2009 but all were good quality and pretty tame: an environmental crusader rabbit who teaches recycling lessons; a little boy who conquers a fear of monsters; and a claymation ape and elephant who box one another. 
• Messages:

  Kids might conclude from the site that underground animation is the straightest path to cartooning success, when in fact it's usually the G-rated stuff that sells the best. (Note that the site's own animation contest prohibits entries with sex or violence.)

What to watch out for

• Violence:

  Not all of the site's animated shorts are violent. However, more than a few feature significant carnage, ranging from the heavy comic-book-style fighting of Hellboy to Monty Pythonesque amputated limbs to shocking Itchy and Scratchy-like decapitations and spurting blood. Child abuse is hinted at and in one bizarre segment, a cartoon Adam Sandler gives another character an unwanted circumcision.
• Sex:

  Sex is a frequent theme, especially in the space spoof Tripping the Rift, which features the gay planet Fabulous Heaven. Suggestive shadow puppetry with a sausage, mice having sex with hand puppets, bunnies reenacting Brokeback Mountain and brief full-frontal female nudity also make an appearance.
• Language:

  Most of the harsh language occurs in The Pitch, a series of shorts in which a producer and various cartoon celebrities pepper their conversations with "Jesus Christ" and "motherf--king".  
• Consumerism:

  Fairly ad heavy -- most pages have one or two flashing banners at the top, down the side or along the bottom -- with some adult themes. One dating site ad features a busty blonde. Most annoying: a persistent 15-second pop-out video ad for the Coraline DVD.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Not romanticized, but present. One of the few drug references is a naked woman on all fours with a strategically inserted hose who is smoking crack, literally.

How safe is it?

• Personal privacy:

  Registration’s not necessary to watch any of the animations. However, kids who want to enter the ABEToons Talent Search contest must be at least 13 years old and provide an email address. 
• Online interaction:

  Not an issue.
• Parental controls:

  There are no controls for parents.

What Parents Need to Know

About ABE Toons

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