Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Norm of the North is an animated adventure about a polar bear, Norm (voiced by Rob Schneider), who can communicate with humans -- and so travels to New York to convince people not to build a proposed real-estate development in his Arctic home. Families familiar with movies like Happy Feet and Hoot will know right away to expect clear environmental themes ... as well as lots of crude potty jokes to make kids laugh. In addition to the gratuitous bathroom humor, which may bother some parents, there's also plenty of slapstick humor, a little bit of innuendo, a stereotypical joke based on the phrase "coming out," some potentially frightening sequences involving a tranquilizer gun, and an apparent death.
Sexual
Content
Violence
Norm tries to hunt seals, but he can't. Men shoot polar bears with dart guns, knocking the bears out. In one scene it looks like a polar bear has drowned. A man is shot with a dart gun in a humorous fashion. A whale eats a seal when told to "keep it real" during a performance for human tourists visiting the Arctic. Lots of slapstick involving the lemmings, who don't seem to have bones and can bounce back from any sort of fall or injury.
Language
Not technically language, but lots of potty humor involving farts, pee, and poop.
Social
Behavior
Supports environmental themes like preserving animal habitats (i.e. the Arctic for polar bears, sea lions, seals, and lemmings). Depicts the hypocrisy of businesses that purport to be "green" but really care more about profit than conservation. Parent-child relationships and closeness are also encouraged in the story, as are inter-generational relationships between grandparents and grandchildren.
Consumerism
Greene says he plans to build a Volvo dealership in the new Arctic real-estate development.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
An actor jokes that he smells like "macaroni and sweet vermouth." Later, the actor plays the piano and sips from cocktail glasses with umbrellas (but what's in the drinks is never made explicit).
