AIBU to think that PG does not necessarily mean "children will enjoy this"?

[Trills]

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children.

But that doesn't mean that the film will be of interest to a child, just that there have nothing that should upset them or that you wouldn't want them to see.

The child (8, 10, something like that) behind me at Life of Pi was clearly bored.

And from what I remember of the book they must have knocked the guts out of it to make it pg anyway.

my 12 and 9 yr olds absolutely loved Life Of Pi

I'm not saying any individual 9 year old won't enjoy it, I'm saying that you need to pay attention and not just say "oh it's got a tiger in it and it's PG so of course he'll like it".

The Straight Story is a G-rated Disney movie about an old man driving a lawn mower several hundred miles to visit his estranged brother. It's a movie for adults that just happens to not have any violence, sex, or cursing. No child would want to watch it. But, no harm will come to any child from it.

YANBU.

My friend took her 3yo dd to see Life of Pi along with her 12 yo ds at the weekend. I know her little girl quite well, so when she asked me if I thought she'd be ok watching it, I sad no, having seen it and knowing that the little girl would be scared at the tiger.

She ignored me and went anyway, then her dd screamed at quite a few points during the film. Utterly selfish behaviour, not only for her poor dd, but also for everyone else that was unfortunate enough to be in the cinema with them.

my 7 yo mindee has recently been to see Skyfall and last week saw Les Mis as his parents couldn't be arsed to find someone to watch him.
Trying very hard to unhoik my judgy pants, but I'm right in thinking that's plain wrong, aren't I.
He couldn't remember what either storyline was about other than that lots of of people died. nice

I cant imagine why skyfall would have been scary for a 7 year old tbh. I fell asleep when i took my two to see it ;)

Nokids - I don't know about yours, but I can quite see my ds (nearly 9 and switching from baby to adult teeth) being completely thrown by the scene where Javier Bardem takes out most of his jaw...

I didn't know that Skyfall was a PG. I had assumed it was a 12 at least, what with the shooting, death etc.

Skyfall was a 12A.

No substitute for knowing your own child.

Oh well there we are then why are we talking about skyfall

I agree - lots of films are patently not designed for children to watch, but the PG label makes people assume that they are.

My 11 year old shut his eyes in the scary bit with the villain in the cage in Skyfall and he is pretty tough - we were sitting in the front row of a HUGE screen though

What cheeses me off is when they make a film a 12 and seem to deliberatley ram as many swear words in it as they can get away with just for the heck of it. We tried to watch This Means War (12) the other night and with the first ten mins a woman said " Oh tell him he is having a penis reduction because every time that baby goes in it bangs my urethrea " - or words to that effect. Just unnecessary imo.

I can't understand how they have made LOP into a film - the book didn't garb me as being something that could be easily translated onto the screen. It's been many years since I have read it though

" Oh tell him he is having a penis reduction because every time that baby goes in it bangs my urethrea "

Can you point out the swear word in that?

Oh sorry - just read my post back and it doesn't make sense, there were loads of 'oh shits' and other minor swear words within the first ten mins or so and then the 'joke' about banging urethreas - crude and unnecessary imo.

I think parents can be forgiven for going to Life of Pi. I remembered this thread this morning when I heard a radio advert for it that said "Fun for all the family" when describing the film. If I didnt know better from other sources, I would assume from that that I could take my 7,8 and 11 year olds and that they would enjoy it.

I don't think "fun" is a word I would use to describe Life of Pi at all. It's not exactly a wacky adventure.

The trailer is portrayed as one though, as soon as ds saw it he wanted to see the film.

yanbu I have issues with 12 As just a con to get more money imo, saw a 7ish yr old at les mis I know it is parental choice blah blah but Life of PI looks hard going I havn't seen it

I know someone (and adult) who went to see Les Mis and didn't know it was a musical. Clearly he hadn't seen any trailers, and his girlfriend just said something about the French Revolution...

I think 12A is a good thing if used properly - different people are ready to see thins at different times, not all 11 year olds are alike and not all 12 year olds are alike.

I suppose you are right trills I always use my judgement with my DDs they are older now but I once sent dh and dd1 to see a 12a Harry potter before letting dd2 see it