The much-talked about and highly bizarre Poor Things is not safe for kids.
The film, which has been nominated for eleven Oscars at this weekend’s ceremony in Los Angeles, has been released on the streaming platform Disney+ today.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, known for The Favourite and The Lobster, the film also stars Mark Ruffalo and has received rave reviews from cinema-goers since its UK release in mid-January.
Considering the content on Disney+ largely appeals to children, and that Emma Stone is recognised by those under 12 years of age for playing Cruella de Vil in the 2021 blockbuster Cruella, parents are being told to deter their kids from clicking play on this entrancing dark comedy.
In it’s simplest form, the film is Emma Stone playing a baby in a grown woman’s body, and Ruffalo plays a narcissistic, ego-centric ladies man who takes advantage of Stone’s unfortunate makeup.
Bella Baxter’s (Stone) brain fuses with her unborn infant’s after committing suicide, and she then resurrects with the mind of a newborn but in the same body she inhabited previously. She then ventures out into a technicolor version of Victorian England in order to assert her intellectual and sexual independence.
As Bella manoeuvres her way across oceans (and through multiple suitors including Ruffalo’s character Duncan Wedderburn), she’s confronted with the harshness of human reality—and the beauty inside her own mind.
In her Golden Globes speech, Stone described the film as such: “I think [Poor Things] is a rom-com, but in the sense of Bella falls in love with life itself. She accepts the good and the bad in equal measure and that really made me look at life differently.”
With the movie being described by viewers as a mix between Frankenstein, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Elephant, it’s clear that it’s intended for an adult audience, and that allowing a child to sit through it could cause many sleepless nights.
One X user pointed out that the current line-up of the Disney+ homepage could do with a bit of sanitisation.
Anyone who has watched The Bear or Atlanta knows that it’s not exactly suitable for kids, but nor is it necessarily explicit or dangerous for them to watch.
Considering the dark and horror-esque aspects of Poor Things on the other hand, it could end up scarring your little ones for a few years to come.
The new Disney original animation series Iwaju also drops on the streaming platform this week, so maybe throw that on for your kids in the late afternoon and pop Poor Things on for yourself after you’ve put them to bed.
If you’re not a subscriber, you can even take advantage of a limited time deal at the moment. Disney is offering new and eligible returning customers a three-month subscription for the lower price of £1.99 per month.
The deal, which is running until March 14, is for the Disney+ Standard with Ads plan which usually costs £4.99 per month.
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