Movie Reviews

With the uptick of cartoons like Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo and Lion King being made into "live action" type films I have been noticing more and more asking for movie reviews. I also have noticed what seems to be more people "shocked" when someone says that the movie is not appropriate for young children, such as Dumbo.

Even though I find the MPAA not to always be trustworthy it can be a starting ground. When MPAA rates something as PG then one should NOT be surprised that the film is inappropriate for young children.
Personally, I use MPAA to gauge if it's a film even worth looking into, reading reviews on, etc.

G - 2 years and up
PG - 10 years and up
PG13 - 14 years and up
Of course, R is adult :)

Now that my kids are 17/18 pretty much any film, minus R, is considered, but if they were 8/9 I would not even consider a PG film.  So as long as the film is PG it's already off the table. An example would be the Dumbo Movie that is out. Dumbo is PG so it would automatically be a no, if my kids were under 10.

Seeing the kids are nearly17/18, Dumbo would be a possible film.  I would then use movie reviews such as Kids In Mind and Catholic News Services. There is also Common Sense Media.  Kids in mind rating for Dumbo is Sex 2 Violence 4 Language 1.  Catholic News Services rating is A-II which means adults and adolescents.  Common Sense Media rating is 8 years old and up.

Seeing it's PG and I personally feel PG is off the market for someone as young as 8, I would say Common Sense Media rating if off the mark on this one. Kids in Mind doesn't sway me one way or another but seeing Catholic News Services rating is adults and adolescents I would say at least 12 and up.

The reason I don't strictly rely on MPAA is because of MPAA values. MPAA values do not line up with mine, but I can use it as a gauge to help determine if a movie is even worth taking the time to read up and reviews and consider it.

NOW -- with all of that said sometimes there exceptions to the rules, but they are rear. One rare one would be the Passion of the Christ. I know it's R. It's R for the graphics and while I do know the graphics are over the top theatrical it's something that I feel is important for the kids. Which is why they have been allowed to watch it since they were about 10.

The other Unplanned. Like Passion of the Christ, Unplanned is rated R.  Seeing in my state any girl, at any age, can get an abortion WITHOUT parental KNOWLEDGE or parental CONSENT -- yes you read that right, any age, no parental knowledge, no parental consent, I feel like if the child is of menstruating age, they should be able to see it.  I haven't decided if it's something we will go see in the theaters or wait for streaming/DVD.  These films are the rare exceptions -there might be handful more, but not much more.

How do you determine if a movie is appropriate for your family? Do you have rules you follow? Do you have exceptions to those rules?

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