Some kids can’t sit still for kids movies when they’re 8, while some two-year-olds sit up to watch a cartoon movie and are engaged the whole time. You know your kids best, and you know the kinds of kids movies that are likely to interest them. But have you ever been watching a movie with your kids and found yourself shocked at a reference or something that happened that seemed inappropriate for kids to see? By carefully checking the MPAA rating of the movie before watching it, you can usually avoid those kinds of uncomfortable surprises.
A movie that’s rated G is safe for all ages. Usually these movies are cartoons aimed for younger children, though some live action movies aimed at very young children get G ratings, too. Many popular animated Disney movies are rated G, for instance.
A PG rating means that parental guidance is suggested. This movie isn’t an innocuous as a G-rated movie, but should still be suitable for kids, though something within the movie might bother some parents. PG movies might not be suitable for very young children. There can be mild profanity, violence, and even brief nudity, though other things can cause a PG rating, like a character death, for instance. However, most movie makers rate conservatively, so even if its a kids movie, usually if there’s anything in it they’re even in doubt about, they’ll opt for a PG rating instead of a G.
PG-13 means that parents are strongly cautioned that the movie might not be suitable for children under the age of 13. This is one of the newer ratings—the MPAA ratings used to jump from PG to R, so a movie was either suitable for all kids or it wasn’t. Now there’s a mid-classification to give parents more information about possibly objectionable things that a movie contains. Adult themes in PG-13 movies might be more obvious, and violence, nudity, sexual references and drug references or drug use might be present.
A movie that’s rated R (Restricted) is a movie that a child under 17 can’t legally view in a theater without a parent or guardian present. Anything goes in rated R movies, including graphic sex, violence, drug use and language, so these films aren’t appropriate for kids.
Some very popular movies obviously aimed at kids get PG and PG-13 ratings nowadays, making it difficult for some parents to allow their children to go see them, especially in the case of the PG-13 rating which sometimes allows things in the movie that parents can find shocking. And sometimes a movie will get a PG-13 rating rather inexplicably, which keeps some kids from being allowed to see film that might be perfectly appropriate and enjoyable.
When in doubt, there’s no rating system like your own. See the movie first to judge whether or not it’s appropriate. If this isn’t practical, then speak to your friends who’ve seen the movie with their kids to get their reaction.
