Animals: what age is it for? 17, alone or with a parent
From 17, alone or with a parent.
Official US rating: R. In France, zinema would say 15.
Alone, or with you
The official US rating is R, and we never go below it. Alone from 17, and not before, even with an adult.
The sweet spot: around 17, when they can think about what ambition does to the truth, and about what they would accept to save someone. Why a sweet spot?
The trailer
What it's about
When the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.
Why 17
- The official rating, firstRated R in the US (restricted, under 17 requires an accompanying parent). zinema never goes below the country's rating: it explains it.rule
- A shootout, deaths, and bloodThe climax is a sniper-rifle shootout: several people are shot dead and the bodies stay on screen. We see a dead woman's bloodied face, a bloodstained mask with a bullet hole and, for two seconds in close-up, a dead man whose eye was torn out by a bullet.shown
- A child in mortal dangerThe whole story revolves around a boy kidnapped on Halloween night. On the phone, the kidnapper threatens to cut him up and cut off his head, in very crude terms. At the ransom drop, he is shown with his hands tied, pushed down a slope in a cart, then held at gunpoint at point-blank range: the decisive moment plays out a few feet from him, and blood splatters on the ground beside him.shown
- Adults who consider killingTo get the child back, the adults coldly weigh the idea of having the kidnappers killed and argue about it at length. The movie leaves viewers to judge, and its ending leaves a bitter taste.shown
- A marriage coming apartThe candidate's wife is having an affair, and the couple falls apart during the night of the kidnapping. Their fights talk about sex in very crude terms (the affair, desire, masturbation), and a brief love scene between the spouses is shown, without nudity.shown
- Swearing in every sceneSwearing comes up in nearly every scene, with the f-word dozens of times and crude insults.shown
What the movie brings
- A political thriller that asks real questions: how far to go to save a child, and what the truth is worth when you want power.
Watching it together
You could mention that the movie revolves around a kidnapped child and that the adults make troubling choices worth talking about afterward.
at 17 and up
Were the adults right to make some of their choices to save the child, and what would you have done in their place?
See the facts
For the same age, on zinema
- Hope 17
- East of Eden 17
- The Housemaid 17
- Sinners 17
The latest guides
- Weapons 17
- Heat 17
- The Green Mile 17
- The Uprising 17
A zinema reading from October 12, 2026 · the whole movie, watched in full · the age by zinema's rules for the US and France, and a human reading · report an error · how this guide is made