Nimona | 2023 | PG | – 1.4.3

Why is “Nimona” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence and action, thematic elements, some language and rude humor.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a brief kiss and hand holding between two men, several scenes of people being stabbed or threatened with stabbing, a laser blast killing a queen, a man wielding a sword that cuts a man’s arm off without blood, several scenes of a teen girl transforming into various animals and scaring people, several arguments, and some moderate language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Animated feature set in a futuristic medieval world, about an assassin knight (voiced by Riswad Ahmed) accused of a crime he did not commit while on a mission. His assassination target, a teen shape-shifter (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz), is also the only one who can help him prove his innocence. Also with the voices of Eugene Lee Yang, Frances Conroy, Lorraine Toussaint, Beck Bennett, RuPaul, Sarah Sherman, Indya Moore and Julio Torres. Directed by Nick Bruno & Troy Quane. [Running Time: 1:38]

Nimona SEX/NUDITY 1

 – Two men are shown to be in a romantic relationship, say, “I love you,” hold hands and in one scene they hug and kiss briefly.
► A man belittles another man, calling him a dork with “lavender-scented hair.” A character’s name is Ambrosius Goldenloin.

Nimona VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A teen girl has four fangs and multiple ear piercings, is a fan of loud heavy metal music, and speaks about loving destruction and murder; she also breaks things, like a plate thrown against a wall (we hear shattering), and knocking over trash cans. A teen shape-shifter turns into animals that include small birds, otters, a wolf, a grinning shark with snapping teeth, a horse, a large rhinoceros, a giant gorilla, a dragon, an ostrich, tiny children, a cat, a rat, a whale who blows people through its blowhole, and men and women. A teen shape-shifter scares people by using glowing eyes, growling and roaring at them. A child’s drawings depict animals with red splotches under their feet representing smashed humans.
► At a knighting ceremony a sword shoots laser lights and hits a queen, sending her gasping off screen (we hear later that she was killed) as a crowd shouts off-screen, “He killed the queen. Let’s get him”; a knight raises his sword and we see someone’s arm fly off-screen, then see a grimacing man holding his shoulder and his arm is gone (no blood is shown) and we later see him with a prosthetic arm. A woman cuts down several knights with a sword/light saber but we see no blood and a teen girl transforms into a flaming firebird and chases the woman; the screen fills with smoke and the firebird and woman are implied to be dead as sparks drift down from the sky. Guards kick and punch a man on the ground and we see him with grime on his face. A teen girl screams and becomes a huge Godzilla-like creature with filmy wings and glowing eyes; the creature roars and stomps and wrecks a billboard while a knight rides a sky scooter through another billboard (he is not hurt); another knight fires a cannon at the creature and hits it as people throw rocks and strike it while black smoke rises (no blood or injuries are seen); the creature tries to impale itself on a statue’s sword, but a man rushes forward and stops the beast as a woman shouts, “Kill it,” and another man shouts, “No,” and the beast transforms into a teen girl who cries.
► A woman runs a man through with a long sword (no blood is seen) and the man gasps, falls, gags, seems dead, awakens, gags, falls dead again, only to stand up as an uninjured teen girl. Many villagers see a shape-shifting girl transforming into animals, and they charge her, poking her with clubs, pitchforks, and burning torches until they burn down the village.
► Guards break into a closet where a man and teen girl are hiding, but a huge rhino breaks out and chases the guards away. A large whale falls through three floors of a building, causing tremors and several statues to fall over while a public address system squawks “Monster Alert.” A man falls off a roof in two scenes and a teen girl dives off, grows dragon wings, and catches him. In a commercial, a two-dimensional dragon breathes fire and drowns in milk. Guards throw a smoke bomb into a train car, but it makes little smoke and the man inside escapes. A teen girl is hit in the calf with an arrow and a man pulls it out and bandages the leg (we see no wound or blood); the girl says it hurts but she’s had worse. A gorilla roars and slaps several men out of its way with no visible injuries. A rhino is tasered by several knights but escapes unharmed. A man is thrown into a jail cell, but a teen girl punches the lock to break it and helps him escape by changing into large animals the man can ride on; they steal a flying car, several knights chase them and then shoot the car with electronic crossbow bolts as the man and the girl kidnap another man, put him in the trunk and get away (no one is injured). An illustrated flashback depicts a giant fire-breathing dragon that burns down a village. A flashback shows two young girls playing, and one looks scared when the other changes into a bird.
► A statue of a woman is seen holding a sword pointing toward billboards that play the caption “If you see something, slay something.” A local police force is made up of armored knights that use combination sword/lightsabers and electronic crossbows. A teen girl shouts about overcoming oppressors and pretends to die, gasping and falling to the floor, but she gets up.
► A teen girl fires sparks from her hand to smash a glass showcase and we hear shattering glass. A teen girl slaps a man in the head in two scenes. A little boy growls and bites a man’s hand, but there is no visible injury. A bear jokingly pretends to die, grabbing a juice box of red juice and squirting it as if it was blood. A woman says, “I killed the queen,” and cell phone footage shows the woman replacing a sword with one that will burst into laser blasts and kill the queen. A man answers a knock at his door and no one is there, but he hears a teen girl’s voice behind him saying, “Hey, Boss,” and he turns and shouts.
► A teen girl says about shape-shifting, “I feel worse when I don’t do it; like my insides are itchy.” A man and a teen girl argue loudly several times. Two men argue briefly and another two men argue and call each other names. A man knocks down another man and stabs a sword into the dirt beside the second man’s head, who gasps. A man mocks his superior officer and makes faces behind his back. A man and a woman argue for several seconds and the woman shouts loudly. A woman moves close to a man’s face and growls between her teeth.

Nimona LANGUAGE 3

 – 2 scatological terms (1 not fully enunciated), 1 anatomical term, name-calling includes (gutter punk, golden boy, commoner, murderer, stupid, monster, trash, freak, miscreant, teacher’s pet, dork, queen killer, Think Face), exclamations (heck, frigging, dang, wow, whoo, whoa, pfft), 2 offensive hand gestures, 7 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, oh my Gorleth, good Gorleth, what in the name of Gorleth, may Gorleth guide you, may Gorleth forgive you). | profanity glossary |

Nimona SUBSTANCE USE

 – A few men without drinks sit at a table in a bar as a bartender slaps a metal mug of something unknown onto the bar, we see three taps at a bar but no one seems to be drinking anything, and a man sips from a brown bottle that looks like a soft drink.

Nimona DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Bigotry, fear of diversity, jealousy, danger, anger, revenge, old Establishment-type rules, disregard for authority, destruction, metal music, class differences, murder, death, loss, prosthetic limbs, unfair treatment, right vs. wrong, transformation symbolized in shape-shifting, LGBTQ+, understanding, acceptance, empathy, self-sacrifice, loyalty, friendship.

Nimona MESSAGE

 – Life can be confusing for teenagers trying to figure out who, and often what, they are.