Parents' Guide to

47 Ronin

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Lifeless take on classic tale with bloodless martial arts.

Movie PG-13 2013 119 minutes
47 Ronin Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 14+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 15+

Alert: Rape Scene

I wish the quick "what parents need to know" narrative on this site had mentioned the rape scene that takes place after the witch puts a spell on Lord Asano and tricks him into "seeing" Lord Kira on top of his daughter grabbing her wrists and while she is screaming. While no one is naked, it is NOT subtle and it DOES show him thrusting and DOES show his full body inside the robe (not just their faces). It's way more than I had anticipated my children watching. We planned on a few heads rolling from sword fights but that's a totally different thing than this. From reading this site it said "sex is not an issue" and the "main characters are shown to be in love but barely touch". I think leaving out a rape scene is a big ball drop.

This title has:

Too much sex
3 people found this helpful.
age 16+

Scatterbrained story; it's really all about the violent battles

The movie has very little coherent or interesting plot. It seems to simply be a vehicle by which to display violent battle scenes. The violence is prolific, however not graphic. Little blood, although there is a suicide and a beheading. Those children that would most want to see this movie perhaps should not if they have tendencies towards fighting or violence.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
2 people found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3):
Kids say (8):

Following several classic versions of this story -- including Kenji Mizoguchi's 1941 film and the 1962 version with Toshiro Mifune -- this new English-language version seems entirely pointless. Not to mention that it's vaguely insulting, relying on a Western director, Carl Rinsch, and a Western star, Keanu Reeves, to make it appealing to Western audiences. At the helm, Rinsch turns in a movie that's deadly serious yet entirely lifeless. The action scenes are totally confusing, and several little plot threads are lazily abandoned or sidestepped. (What happened to the samurai who was poisoned by the witch?) The pace is monotonous and numbing. Its only attempt at humor is at the expense of a "jolly fat man," which just goes to underline just how culturally backward the entire project really is. Ultimately, this is an expensive flop that has wasted the talents of its cast.

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