Movies and Their Ratings

I agree,
What kills me is that most of the time it's just parents 1) are too lazy to really look into the movie, or 2( they cant get a babysitter and they HAVE to see it in the theater.
I can't tell you how many small kids I mean 3-7 yrolds I saw in the Transformer movies and Iron Man those were NOT kids movies, just because it's a superhero movie it does NOT mean it's a child's movie.
Then the toy companies go out and make the toys for these movies that kids aren't really supposed to see.
parents don't do enough research thinking well they made a toy for it , it must be ok , NOPE
oh yeah and the little babies , toddlers, infants they bring to movies because of no baby sitter so here I am trying to enjoy Sherlock Holmes and there's a kid crying because it's too loud adn scary and mom's too full of her self to take him out .

I didn't censor what my daughter saw, listened to, or read. If the content upset her, she told me and we left the cinema or changed the channel. I ignored ratings.

My kids are 10 and 12. I am what seemsto be the last of a dying breed of parents that filter what their kids see and hear. I read lyrics before they download songs. My favorite website is "common sense media." if you look up a movie they tell you exactly what us in it. I check every movie before we see it. It's a great tool. Don't let others tell you you're overprotective or not "cool." There are far too few kids being raised with morals and ethics these days.

Ratings have really changed quite a bit in the last ten years or so, mostly because our popular culture has changed for teenagers. Now, most of the girls (sorry, not meaning to offend, but it's true) want to dress like trashy tramps, walk around with a phone pinned to their head, and have a disrespect that I swear, my parents would have NEVER tolerated.

I guess I am not shocked by any of it, but I am DISGUSTED by it none the less. I don't consider myself old or young (in the 30s).

Overall, I am disgusted by modern popular culture and have chosen to homeschool my children for that reason (other reasons as well, of course, but that was a HUGE one.) I mean, our neighbor's daughter, who is eight, wears miniskirts, knee high black leather boots (at least they don't have heels!) tank tops with a "bikini" style v neck, and sparkly stuff on her face. She is a wonderful, beautiful, sweet little girl who is being raised to think she needs to look like this, and it is SOOOO sad! I just want to give her some sweatpants, a t-shirt, some comfy socks and sneakers, and say "here, you'll love this!" but she wouldn't. So sad that people don't let their children be comfortable as children.

Oh, and I pretty much think...back on the subject...that anything more than a G rating needs to be previewed before being watched by children. Even then, morally, I come across stuff I don't like in G movies!

I agree with you! There are websites where you can see reviews on movies before taking your kids.
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

I completely agree with you! Movie ratings are NOT what they used to be, and I'm disgusted at the movies that have PG-13 ratings that should be Rs. From what I know of the movie industry, PG-13 movies attract the biggest audience. Some people won't see a PG because they think that it's going to be too clean. And some won't see Rs because they think they'll be too dirty. So a PG-13 attracts the biggest moviegoing audience. The movie producers follow the strict rules and very often skirt the line. I believe the rules say you can do a certain amount of swears but you can't use the F-word too much. One use of the F-word changes a PG to a PG-13. You can have blood but no actual killing and you can have sex but no bare boobs or privates. Boy, do those movie makers skirt the fine line!

I'm very disgusted at the subject matters in PG-13 movies nowadays. No wonder our society is going downhill!

And don't even get me started on the song lyrics you hear on the radio...

We are very careful about the movies that we rent and take our children to see. So, I use the Christian website "Plugged In Online", because they give a very detailed description of the kind of content that is in a movie. They have each review broken down into categories like- "sexuality", "language", "violence", etc..
I really like being aware of what I am about to pay money to let my children see, so I read the review, and then decide if it's right for us. Hope this helps!

I identify - I also saw this movie recently but hardly ever get out to see movies and I'm 26 too with 2 kids. I'm surprised it wasn't rated R. I think a lot of parents don't realize the impact entertainment has on their kids. Just because they don't "seem" bothered or even affected by it doesn't mean they arent. A steady diet of typical tv and movies and they will pick up bad attitudes, bad words, "tones" and disrespectful ways of relating, plus violence. Entertainment will define their views on sex, body image, appropriate ways of relating with friends, appropriate ways of relating with
parents, etc...I don't know about all of you but I don't want my children behaving, talking and acting like the characters I watch in many movies and even the characters on many popular "kids/teen" shows. I use pluggedinonline.com to preview movies. It has very detailed descriptions of everything good or bad in the movie so you know what you're exposing your child too and not trusting the advice of a friend who says it's ok for kids but you and they may not have the same standards as you and like another parent said - every kid is different!! My kids watch veggie tales a lot - I'd be happy if they learn a lot from a show like that instead of most of the other stuff out there!

It's shocking how it all works. I am actually doing a research paper on this exact topic and was shocked to learn how the rating system actually works. Really the words Sh*t and A$$ can be said a number of times in PG films and F*ck can be said in PG-13 so long as it is not refering to the action! I was shocked! I just finished watching the documentary "This film is not yet rated" it was very insightful about the whole system. The system that we use here is very odd and not very efficient, which you learned for yourself last night. There are really no guidelines that go into rating films, more so just opinions. I am censor all movies that my little guy watches for that exact reason.

I have been using www.kids-in-mind.com for a couple of years now. I dont trust the PG 13 ratings for my 14 and 15 year old. I check that site first and read the details. It is really sad, the things parents let their kids watch. I must admit...my husband thinks i am too strict. I am pretty open, but some of the movies are too much!

Umm.... Guys... TopGun, with blatant sexual references, and a silhouette sex scene, main charecter dies by getting his head smashed in with blood and grey matter on the glass, swearing galore... is only rated PG. And that came out in '86. Movie ratings have gotten FAR more stringent over the past couple decades. We just weren't parents when WE were the kids watching these movies.

But as for "only lazy parents" etc comments below, or for anyone who's having trouble imagining having kids different from their own:

There's an old joke...

There are only 2 kinds of drivers; Maniacs & Morons.
Maniacs are the drivers who drive faster than you.
Morons are the drivers who drive slower than you.

Kids are different. If you had taken my son up until age 6ish to see a disney movie... you would have had a toddler terrified out of his mind; screaming, wetting himself, curling into a ball crying and having nightmares for months. But it's a "kid's" movie. If you had taken him to see Transformers, or Spiderwick, Halo... he would have been laughing & happy (ditto other teen or adult rated movies... Starwars, Indiana Jones, 5th Element, Band of Brothers, Inuyasha, I can't even think of them all because "backwards" was normal in our house. He also had/has ungodly concentration. He'll happily sit through all 3+ hours of braveheart or Avatar). At 2.5 he thought the "No Outsides!!!" Pirates were the funniest things he'd ever seen in his whole life (the zombie pirates from pirates of the caribbean.

Kids are different. We all quickly become experts in our own children, but that expertise doesn't apply across the board. Parents are responsible until age 17... because what is appropriate for one child is NOT appropriate for another.

Just because what scares MY child doesn't scare yours, doesn't make me a bad parent... nor does it make YOU a bad parent because your children are scared of what mine is fine with. Ditto other levels of maturity.

I've thought that about a lot of movies! Even some G movies I think they could have a little less adult humor. Geez if we can't sit thru an hour and a half of a movie geared towards kids without all the innuendos what's wrong with us! There are some PG-13 or even R movies I will let my 12 year old watch - but in our home where I can turn it off or I have already seen it. Some of the stuff on tv is just as bad anymore.

oh you are not alone honey!!! my son has hardly to watch many DISNEY movies and hes 4! i just find some of them incredible scary and intimidating; i remember seeing the little mermaid when i was older than him and being horrified! yeah, i am with you, you are not old fashioned, you are smart. kids are incredible affected by what they watch and what they play, etc. there are so many incredibly bad messages out there, even when they seem to be good messages on the outside, theres a lot of crazy stuff that many people dont think about. i mean, things like smoking, drinking, having promiscuous out-of-marriage sex, (sex in general!!), partying, how women are valued (even sometimes how men are valued!), how kids behave, etc... i mean im sure you knwo the list goes on and on and on and on!!

now, i wish i could remember the name of them! there are at least 2 websites that you can go to for good child-friendly reviews/ratings/suggestions. you could write to parenting magazine or parents magazine and ask them because im sure that i saw them in there.

anyway, i just want to reassure you that you are not alone, you are not crazy and you are not old fashioned. keep up the good work mom. :)

What I have realized about PG-13 is that it is an R but just doesn't use the F word as much or show quite as much skin for as long. It is not that it doesn't happen, but in a slightly smaller quantity throughout the movie than a R. As for content, if I am going to see a movie that is not action or suspense and it has a PG-13 I know right off that means it is a sexual film, there is no other reason to give it that rating. If it is an R and isn't action or suspense I usually don't even watch it bc I just don't enjoy watching people have fake sex, or real sex for that matter, on film. Hope that helps!!

We are VERY selective on what PG 13 movies our kids are allowed to watch. Even PG we will read the details on what exactly the questionable content is. They are 11 and 9. No way would they be allowed to watch "Just Go with it" or "Grown Ups" They don't need to be exposed to drinking, drugging, and sexual humor, NO WAY! I can't even believe what many of their peers are viewing on "Glee" totally inappropriate! Yet Glee matrial gets advertised even at "Toys R Us" On the other hand, we do allow movies such as Harry Potter and Star Wars (I think one of those was PG 13) because they are rated PG13 due to peril/violence, our kids have read the books, and we are OK with that knowing they understand fantasy/reality and would not be too scared by it.

I agree with you. What we show them in a movie, they assume is a role model. If we want them to grow up like us, we should be their main role models. When they ask for more information, that's the time to give it to them. Keep the doors of communication open, so that when the world shows them things they don't understand yet, you will be the one they come to for explanations. If they do see a movie with what seems to be "too much information," be sure they have a chance to discuss it with you.

I am as shocked as you are when it comes to movie ratings. I think any movie with sexual inuendo should be rated R-which is just about everything-and safely many of the PG13 films! Most of the adult comedies are so raunchy-I wouldn't want to be seen in public watching them. Hollywood tends to take an adorable premise and raunch it up in order to make more money. Example- "The Wedding Crashers" or "Liar Liar"-both could have been just as funny without the inuendo and "crassness" factor.

Yes, my husband and I have notice that too. I really think that the industry do it of course to get more people but parents should don't bring their kids (sometimes younger then 10!!!) to these already wrong rated pg13.
What was the name of the cartoon with the girl with botton's eyes that have 2 big topples women? I bring my daughter and 3 of her friends to see it when they were younger. While I don't think boobs are bad I felt responsible for bringing the other kids to watch this "cartoon movie"!.

I was shocked too that it was only pg13.

I'm 26 also and I agree. I haven't seen that movie yet though. I think alot of it revolves around the almighty dollar. Many movie theaters were/are cracking down on kids under 17 seeing a rated R movie without an adult, however they don't have age limits for PG-13 that I know of. My children are only 5,4 and 1, but we preview most movies and plan to in the future. The first movie I remember my parents being very vocal about a "wrong" rating was "Titanic." My mom went back and forth a couple times before she let me see it, even though it was only PG-13. She also told me what was going to be in it that might be questionable and talked about it a bit. I feel some movies rated R should be more like NC-17, just as a warning. There have been a few movies we as adults were watching without the children and had to turn them off.
It isn't just movies anymore either. The sad part is alot is on tv, too and you can't preview that unless you have tivo or something similar. Luckily for me, my chidren are young enough they go to bed many nights by 7:00. By 8:00 you are already getting adult geered shows. It used to be you could stay up until 8:00 and still be ok, but not anymore. We try to be careful about what shows are on and what our kids are watching. I learned this year with my 5 yo, that tv isn't allowed on in the morning before school. While morning tv isn't usually "bad" persay, I found out that if she watched tv (even kids shows) before school she had a bad day and it greatly impacted her day.
But parents/children are all different, and I am very surprised by what some parents allow their children to watch, or not watch.

I'm very curious about this post. Those of you who have seen it do you think it's appropriate for a 14-year-old boy 8th grader? My son has wanted to see this movie for several weeks and almost did twice, but it didn't work out for various reasons. My 11-year-old was mad at me that I wouldn't let him see it (NO WAY he is going to see it) until I told him there was a lot of "romance." Based on the trailers he's seen, he just thought it was a "comedy" with kids in it. I don't find the rating system strict or lenient, but rather puzzling. "The King's Speech," which I saw last night and which has a lot of bad language is rated R, but "Just Go With It," which I haven't seen, but sounds like it has a lot of sexuality is rated PG-13? I couldn't believe that "Juno" was rated PG-13 several years ago. Some of the movies from the 80s mentioned in other postings are from an era when PG-13 didn't exist. I'm sure that "Top Gun" would've been PG-13 instead of PG had that rating existed back then. BTW, my 14-year-old is still holding it against me that I didn't let him see "Little Fockers." Just didn't seem right to me. Anyhow, I'd love to hear from more of you who have already seen this movie, either on this posting or PM, about its appropriateness for age 14 (actually 14 3/4). He'll be 15 this summer. Thanks!

Movies are rated.
I don't often understand why some movies get an R just for language and adult situations when others don't.
That said, ultimately, it is up to parents to decide what they let their children see. You may not agree with it, but it's not up to you.
My son and I were invited to attend a church and he heard more about homosexuality and fornication in one hour than he'd ever heard anywhere else, combined. There was no rating or warning issued for that.

I do agree that you can't judge by how movies are rated. My kids are older now, but I liked asking around before taking my kids to the theatre. And, these days, its so darn expensive. You don't want to have to walk out. Rentals are great because we can view them first and just turn them off if it's not good for kids.
As far as what other people let their kids watch, it's up to them.
We all get to make such choices for ourselves, thank goodness.

I completely agree with Riley J., that movie ratings have actually gotten a lot stricter over the years. A bunch of my friends with young kids went to see a "movie in the park" last summer, it was "Back to the Future" (1985, rated PG). A couple of mom's jaws were dropping at the language in that movie.

If you want to know the details of a movie, go to www.imdb.com, find the movie, scroll down to the bottom and click on "parents guide". You will find exactly what is in the movie as far as language, violence, sex, etc.