To consider letting my 4 yo watch a 12a

[Minikievs]

Fully open to being told IABU. It's probably more a WWYD. New film out at cinema (Turtles) which he would love. But it's a 12. I haven't mentioned it to him and luckily he hasn't seen the adverts for it. He's 4-is it absolutely ridiculous to let him go and see it with half term coming up? He would have no interest in, for example, the Postman Pat film. But I'm not sure if this would be too old for him. Would you let him go?

It depends on your dc, and the film.

Dd1 takes things very much as they come. She watches and separates fiction from reality very well. She doesn't act out things she sees/watches. She probably wouldn't have wanted to see a 12A when underage as she's a sickler for rules and would probably have announced she couldn't watch it, and not been convinced by having an adult with you.

I wouldn't let dd2 see a 12A (she's nearly 11yo) because she can be traumatised by a U film. She scares herself with her imagination. As someone who was traumatised for years over Bedknobs and Broomsticks I have every sympathy.

There are some that I'd happily take ds (7yo) to and others I wouldn't. He doesn't scare easily, but he does mimic.

He would tell you that he'd seen a 15 cert-that's because I bought him some DVDs of The A-Team (original). They were all listed PG. Asked for more for his birthday and someone sent him the same DVD by accident. Only it had been reclassified as a 15 .... considering how easily traumatised I was, and we regarded it as easy Saturday night viewing and I wasn't too traumatised I wasn't convinced by the reclassification.
I wouldn't take ds to the turtles movie from what I know about it though.

Good decision. Ridiculous that they have made a TMNT film for teenagers. Would they even want to watch it ? They should have made it suitable for a younger audience.

The IMDB Parental Guide is usually pretty thorough too, can include spoilers though.

I wouldn't let my under 12s watch a 12a that I hadn't watched beforehand, but I am not against the idea once I know what the film is all about, I would make a decision for each individual film. Swearing doesn't concern me, violence, gore and scariness does.

My 3 year old has watched a couple of the Harry Potter films which were 12a but on DVd not in the cinema. I took my 7yr old at the time to the final HP film at the cinema, but I had already seen it. As a big fan it was a good excuse to go twice :)

Not sure if this link has been posted as haven't got time to read the whole thread but I've always found it quite a useful site.
Fwiw, my 7 year old is quite mature, but I'm afraid I probably won't be taking him to see this.

It sounds like TMNT isn't suitable but in general YANBU. I've decided to forgo TMNT as I've lived through too many reboots of that, Superman, and several other things.

DDs (3.9 and 5.5) watch selected 12a films. I have a 'no swearing' and 'no human vs human violence' rule. They seem to have a good fantasy/sci-fi filter and can verbalise understanding of the concepts of fiction and acting.

They love Transformers, Avenger Assemble and associated films, and Harry Potter. DD1 screamed in anger when I told her that part 3 of The Hobbit isn't available yet and insisted on watching LOTR trilogy. Bless her but if she doesn't stop calling the ringwraiths 'dementors' I'm going to have a hissy fit.

I wouldn't. There were bits in the Avengers and Thor movies that I was uncomfortable with my 11 year old ds seeing, I would never have exposed him to that aged 4.

It always surprises me how heavily batman, Spider-Man and co are marketed to very young children. Batman especially is very dark!

I'm disappointed its a 12a as my 6yo is tmnt obsessed. Tbh the mild swearing isn't too bad as he hears worse at school, its the level of violence and the way it comes across as quite dark in the trailer. My ds isn't phased by scary things, he loves jurassic park and similar, but this movie looks too much to me.

Its wrong that all the merchandise is aimed at younger kids yet the movie isn't suitable for them to watch. It should have been a pg so suitable for the age group the merchandise is aimed at or they shouldn't have brought out the toys based on it.

It doesn't have brilliant reviews...

digital spy review

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is vastly superior to any of its producer Michael Bay's Transformers movies. But that's like saying having the latest U2 album automatically downloaded onto your iTunes without consent is preferable to Bono kicking down your front door, strapping you into a straight jacket and forcing you to listen to his band's latest offering while slapping you around the face with The Edge's beanie hat every time you nod off."

The rating might be a lucky escape. Think of those of us with older children!

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles_2013/

Some of the reviews are quite funny though!