Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3 opened in theaters on May 5th to huge acclaim and huge box office numbers, already grossing over $531 million worldwide. James Gunn’s finale to the much-beloved series is a hit with fans, too. I’ve personally heard several fans say it is their favorite Marvel movie of all-time. But with all these rave reviews also comes a caution: parts of this movie can be particularly difficult to watch or even traumatizing for younger viewers, animal lovers, or anyone who is particularly sensitive to animal violence.
The movie delves deep into the beloved character Rocket Raccoon’s back story, and it is full of things that are not great, to say the least. In explaining how we got a raccoon that walks, talks, and acts like a human, we learn of many terrible experiments performed on Rocket and other animals. Needless to say, trauma abounds in this storyline.
To be fair, the movie clearly and unequivocally portrays the animal violence as tragic and wrong, and that is important to note up front. Also, all the animals in the film are CGI – not real animals at all, whatsoever – so no actual animals were harmed in any way. But for some people, watching scenes of intense and graphic violence against animals may not be worth the payoff of enjoying an otherwise fantastic movie.
It’s also important to note that as the movie is rated PG-13 and not R, the animal abuse scenes are graphic but not gory, which is an important distinction. Nevertheless, movie goers need to prepare themselves to hear and see the following in Guardians of the Galaxy 3:
- torture and dismemberment of talking animals and the screams that accompany such treatment
- surgical experiments on animals
- injury and experimentation on baby animals
- animals crowded in small, filthy cages
- painful animal mutation
- an animal burning to death
- animal characters with graphic wounds or permanent disfigurement
This all seems very “yikes!” when typed out in a list, but it’s essential to say that it is not gratuitous or wasted. It is an important part of the movie’s overall plot and storyline, and it is all condemned as terrible. The movie uses these scenes as important parts of the Guardians team members’ overall background, and it uses them well. However, since one hallmark of the Guardians franchise is its lighter and fun moments, the animal scenes could catch fans off guard, and moviegoers definitely deserve a heads up. As for myself, I was considering taking my 12-year-old son to see this movie in the theaters, but I personally think these scenes would be too much for him in the theater. He loves other Marvel movies and they’ve been appropriate for him even with a PG-13 rating, but we will be waiting to watch this one until it hits the small screen on Disney + and he can watch it (or turn it off!) in the safety of his own home.
Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy 3 yet? Did you find the animal violence upsetting for you or your family, or were you able to get past it because of the way it was used in the story?
