to take my 9 year old DD to see Harry Potter?

[FrameyMcFrame]

It is a 12A which I understood to mean it's ok for children under 12 as long as they're with an adult. Is that right?
I've been getting some cat's bum looks from other Mums who say it's too dark and scary for 9 year olds.
Anyway, DD enjoyed it. No nightmares so far. :)

YANBU. If children under 12 are allowed in to see the film then it must be considered suitable.

Depends on the child, doesn't it? I think the point of a 12A cert is to make parents consider what would be appropriate for their individual child. Some 9 year olds will be fine, some 12 year olds will be terrified.

If in doubt, you can always view the film yourself prior to showing DCs and make the decision then.

Yes, you are correct. I took a 10 year-old. I think it would be too dark for some under-12s, but it's our decision.

I got some looks in the cinema when I took the same child, then 7, to HP5, particularly as she looked about 5, but I knew it wouldn't be a problem.

Our family went to see it on Friday - DDs are 13, 10 and 8. DD3 was absolutely fine with it, and really enjoyed it. No trouble with the scary bits at all.

YANBU. I do take mine to 12A films but some I was wary about. We missed Lion, Witch & Wardrobe on advice from othere - got the DVD and realised that my kids would of been fine. But, we did go see Super Man and Iron Man and they weren't at all suitable and should of been rated 15.

Totally depends on the individual child.

(Luckily my children aren't interested in HP so I don't have to suffer it. :) )

We went, including DS2 who is 9. But he had read the book, so i think that's fair enough as
a) he would remember what was about to happen
b) reading that much J K Rowling shows sufficient dedication maturity to be allowed to watch the film!

We took DS who is only just 6 - he loves the Harry Potter films and jumped a few times but then laughed straight afterwards - that was our decision based on knowing what scares him and what he understands - we did not take his 10 year old sister though as even scooby doo gives her nightmares!

It is up to you if you know the child won;t be worried by it then go right ahead.

We're taking dd aged 6 (7 in March) on Sunday - she is an HP nut - can't wait etc. Thankfully she's tall so hopefully won't get any looks. But, tbh, I don't really care; we know our daughter well enough to know she'll be fine with it.

We took our DS, 5, to see it on Saturday. He loved it! His stand out comment was, if it had been 3-D he would have been even more scared of the snake, but that was the only scary bit. (He was talking to his aunt about this). It really depends on the child.

You can try reading something like the "kids in mind" reviews (google for the website) which give ratings out of ten for sexuality and nudity, violence and any offensive language. They also describe what happens in the film to warrant the rating and list some of the main themes eg. "A character gets stabbed in the eye with an arrow but no gore is seen, a woman is shown naked from behind, three uses of the word norks. Themes include the hopelessness of war and whether theft is ever justifiable."

Regardless of vetting films for children, they're often just quite an amusing read! (Particularly the 10.10.10 ones with boatloads of sex, blood 'n' guts and swearing...)

What everyone else said - should be suitable for nearly all 12 year olds (unless they are particularly sensitive) and for some but not all under-12s.

earwicga - You say that Superman and Ironman should have been rated 15, because you took your under-12 children and don't think it was suitable for them? Does that mean you think they were totally unsuitable for 12, 13, and 14-year olds as well?

I took DS3 to see it. He is 9. I was prepared to bring him out if he got scared, but he was absolutely fine.

Here's the BBFC's take on it (British Board of Film Classification)

I'm considering taking DD(8) - she's read the books so I don't think she'll have a problem but in practice I think I'll veer on the side of caution and wait until the second half comes out - I'm sure there'll be some marathon showings we can go to then.
So no, YANBU.

I took my 7.5 DTs and both loved it. The two main 'jumpy' bits involve the snake and they jumped along with the rest of the audience. I read the BBFC description first and told them what would happen to lessen the moment for them. Its quite gloomy and dark, but I think a lot of this passed them by.

They are both HP nuts and have seen all other films and read all books except DH. Neither had nightmares about it and were happily running around 'Avada Kedavra-ing' each other for the rest of the afternoon.

I was a bit more at the swearing and the kissing scene than the violence tbh.

Trillian - yes, I think they should of been rated 15. I don't think they are suitable for any children, which is what I thought I had written above.

YANBU if you know your DC won't be scared.

My DBro will be 8 in a couple of weeks, and he really wants us to take him to see HP...He was fine with the last one so fingers crossed this one won't be too scary for him.

YANBU

All depends on the child.

DS (10) can and does watch all sorts of supposedly scary stuff - loved LOTR, for example. I'm the one hiding behind a cushion watching Dr Who, and always have been. I've given up asking "isn't that a bit scary"? because it seems to encourge him

OTOH he can't handle scary books at all and will not read them or have them read to him. So some story in which a stoneage boy's dad cops it in the first pages - absolutely not. He also found Young Bond too scary. Roald Dahl is fine because it's obviously not real, thoguh.

I took my nine-year old. He loves Dr Who and similar things and he was fine. He jumped out of his chair at the snake bit and then laughed about it. He loves being scared witless.

Afree with those people who've said it depends on the child.

Don't think YAbu at all - I agree about the trickiness of judging sometimes - my ex has taken DC's to see Iron Man/Spiderman/Hulk etc and then I've seen it and thought that there was overly violent stuff that was too much for them, but then, at least we have a choice as to whether the U12's can see it or not, rather than just having it as a PG or a 12.
In this case, after reading the link above, it seems fine and I'm now happy to take DS2 (8) to go and see it, but then, that's me!

My Dh took the DDs to see it yesterday. DD1 is 11 and DD2 is 8.

They were fine, DD2 has read all the books and loves quite dark stuff. She is now reading Phillip Pullman.

They both enjoyed it.

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad I'm not the only one to think it's ok for 9 year olds.
Agree the snake bit is the most scary part. DD did scream at that part but then laughed!

I thought it was the best one yet as far as the films go :)

There are a couple of scary bits, but nothing terrible, certainly less scary I though than the last couple of films. We saw it Saturday evening and really enjoyed it.

My 11 and 7 year old will be seeing it. The 7 year old won't be scared at all. He saw Coraline last year and wasn't scared, plus he's seen all the Transformers films.