My dear husband has been longing to take Hambet (3 1/2) to his first movie. We all love Pixar around here, but I see that PG on The Incredibles and am having second thoughts.
The thing is that they will give a movie a PG for firing a fantasy weapon (because it looks like a G-U-N) but they will give a movie a G that has all kinds of things hated by parents of preschoolers (name-calling, potty humor, “shut up”, and other obnoxious easily imitated behaviors.)
So what do you think? How young is “too young” for a matinee of The Incredibles?
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http://www.screenit.com and http://www.decentfilms.com are places to go if you want the low-down on the movie. If Therese is still in the theaters, why not make the trek to see that movie with Hambet?
I’ve heard from two moms of 2 1/2 and 3yo that went to pre-screen it that they would NOT be taking their boys to see it. Said it was too violent. One mom said it was like James Bond but animated–all the shoot-em-up stuff (don’t know about girls). You might want to pre-screen it as well? And regarding Therese, I know parents who prescreened that and decided not to take small ones, because they unmask St. Nick 🙂 To each his own 🙂 !
–Amanda
Matt & I saw The Incredibles over the weekend. Out of curiosity I looked it up at decent films for you: http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/incredibles.html
I agree with the review there. I don’t really think the kids will be running out to blow everything up because of any of the violence, though they might try to run on water (I suggest water skis). My only thought about your dh taking Hambet is that the movie is over two hours long, which, to me, seemed long for a cartoon/kids movie. On this one, I’d say the deciding factor is attention span, not film decency. I highly recommend the movie to anyone and everyone.
Well, dh brought the kids to see it last Friday, including the 5 and 2 year olds. But again, I am not very discriminating about this type of thing. I used to be, but it became a big struggle with dh with “cool Dad” on one side and boring “Mom, all work no play” on the other. But I also do not worry about violence that much as I do about sex in movies. I mean some violence, not the type like in Black Hawk Down, but like the type described here.
Anyway,I cannot offer much in the way of review because I didn’t see it except they all liked the movie. The boys don’t seem any worse than usual since then.
Dear Peony,
FWIW I heard an interview on NPR that suggested that the filmakers through that the film was not for anyone under the age of about 8-10 years old. I’m not going to take Samuel, settling instead for the infinite silliness of next week’s Spongebob Movie. At least I know what I’m in for there.
shalom,
Steven
Zteen and I are going to see “The Incredibles” tonight. I’ll be able to give you my opinion tomorrow!
Amy and I went to see it. It was good. Had stuff in there that adults could laugh at but that kids wouldn’t get, and random super hero saves the day things for kids that are all fun.
Amy’s got a very picky coworker who is very careful what her children sees. She took her 3, 5, and 6 year olds to see it and it was acceptable to her, though the 3yo got bored apparently.
Thanks for the input. You’ve confirmed my suspicions — between the length and the filmmakers’ comments, Hambet is going to have to wait a little longer to see this movie.
Happily there will be no whining or complaining to put up with — he is easy to please at this age. He found a Brio catalog in my purse and was gushing, “Oh, Mommy, thank you — he never asked for the toys, just looking at the pictures was fun enough!
Kelly, I dunno about Therese — I wasn’t interested in seeing it for myself. I heard the book was better….
I saw it on Saturday night and reallyenjoyed it…but I wouldn’t take my four-year-old. A bit too scary for her and likely too long. And was anyone else totally bummed out about the last scene (with the baby)?? I was totally disappointed by that…don’t want to spoil it for anyone tho… 😉
The book *is* better. But, if you were looking to take Hambet to a movie, it would be shorter and more edifying than what I’ve read of the movie you were asking about.
Dh and I took our two boys last week-end. It was a lot of fun…..but our boys are 10 and 15. I think the virtual violence might be a bit too much for a small child, especially in a theater with the surround sound etc. (Now I’m saving my pennies to see SpongeBob. But I guess we’re lucky that our boys still don’t mind being seen in public with us. And our 15 year old isn’t particularly interested in seeing what passes for teen movies these days. He’s a really smart kid and I think he would rather see a good kids movie than the shlocky garbage that panders to teens these days.)
I though the decentfilms.com review was excellent. I’ve heard that it isn’t like the Shrek 2 PG where there is definitely objectionable stuff, but that there is nothing objectionable. It’s just that the concepts in the movie would go over most young kids’ heads.
I asked my husband what happened when he brought the kids. The little one was bored. He kept still while the popcorn lasted and when that was gone, he was ret to go. The 5-31 year olds liked it. Hambet is not much older that Gorbulas, so aside from what may or may not be objectionable, even if the content is all good, there is not point if it’s going to be another situation where you are chasing a bored toddler around.
If Gorbulas was the oldest dh would not have brought him.