My Octopus Teacher: parents' guide
Best for ages 7 and up. Rated TV-PG.
A gentle, gorgeous nature documentary that works for most school-age kids watching with a parent. A South African filmmaker in a low period of his life dives daily in a kelp forest and befriends a wild octopus over most of a year. Nature is not tidy here: sharks hunt her, one tears off an arm, and the film follows her full life cycle, ending with her natural death after laying eggs. There is no gore, and the language and themes are mild, but sensitive kids may be upset by the attacks and the ending, so we suggest 7.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateRealistic predator action: pajama sharks repeatedly chase the octopus, and in one attack she loses an arm. Sea creatures catch and eat each other. Tense rather than gory, with no real blood.
Language
MildVery little: a single use of hell in the filmmaker's narration, and nothing stronger anywhere in the film.
Sex and nudity
MildTwo octopuses mate, shown in nature-documentary fashion, and she then lays thousands of eggs. Nothing else.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
NoneNo drinking, smoking or drug use.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateSeveral suspenseful shark chases. The octopus, by then a beloved character, weakens and dies after tending her eggs, and a shark carries her body away. The filmmaker also describes feeling burned out and distant from his family.
Sensitive topics
- Animal death
Worth talking about
The filmmaker says the octopus taught him to slow down and reconnect with his son. What can paying close attention to nature teach us?
On our lists
Similar picks around 7+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, bbfc.co.uk, Wikipedia, netflix.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.