Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that although this highly entertaining fantasy will appeal to kids with its mix of swashbuckling adventure and romance, it's darker than cinematic cousins like The Princess Bride. It's surprisingly violent, with several deaths and lots of fights featuring knives and swords. The scenes in which an evil witch unleashes her fury are truly frightening (one with a voodoo doll may make even older tweens close their eyes), as is her transformation into an old hag. The subplots, including one about brothers vying for their father's crown trying to kill each other, may be too disturbing for younger kids.
Sexual
Content
No nudity, but some kissing and a few cleavage shots. A young woman seduces a young man and gets pregnant (nothing explicit is shown). Tristan and Yvaine spend a night together, though the audience only sees them together under the covers.
Violence
Surprising amounts of fantasy/swashbuckling violence, including swordfights, knifings, and sorcery that ends in murder (a man drinks poison and keels over, another man is pushed off a ledge) and destruction. In one particularly brutal scene, a witch drowns a man with a voodoo doll and uses his body to try to stab another. In another scene, she slits a victim's throat. Animals are also killed for witchcraft, and Yvaine is being pursued so a sorceress can eat her heart.
Language
Quite benign; mostly just insults ("idiots") and the occasional "damn."
Social
Behavior
Backstabbing, literally and figuratively, of Shakespearean proportions. A father pits his sons against each other. Brothers murder each other (with knives, poison, etc.) in a bid to take their father's throne. Witch sisters scream at each other as they try to find Yvaine and kill her. A young woman demands a present from a suitor she doesn't like that much. A young man engages in a one-night stand that produces a son. There are also homophobic overtones in terms of how a pirate is portrayed.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Pirates drink, before, during, and after pillaging. Tristan and Victoria steal away for a picnic where they drink champagne.
