To let my children see this?

[Mum233]

I am a wimp about films and always have been so this may be skewing my judgement!
My children (7 and 6) have asked to watch the goblet of fire. They love films and have seen the HP films 1-3 and have loved Jurassic world, ghostbusters etc.
my husband thinks that we should let them as they’ve watched films before that I would have said were too scary and loved them. I disagree and worry it will be too much. The 7 year olds friends have seen the goblet of fire.
have your children seen it? Were they ok with it? X

Goblet of Fire marks the transition of the Harry Potter stories into darker territory. It includes the robust intimidation of Harry by a group of adults who murdered his parents. I would say it's really for age 10+.

It's a 12. So broadly speaking no.

For HP we had a rule that the DC had to have read the books before they saw the films, which a) inspired their reading, and b) meant they were at an appropriate age before thy saw the films.

There are loads of films out there far more appropriate for 6/7 year olds.

With Harry Potter my rule was read the books first then you can watch the films. It slows the pace for them and helps ensure they understand the story and age appropriate. My first son was 8 when he'd completed them all and my second ds has only seen they first 2 and he's nearly 8. Really it depends on the child.

We also have a rule with films based on books that you must read the books first. If they can read the books then the film should be ok.

It really depends on your children.

I will happily let my kids watch a 12, depending if I’ve seen it first and deemed it not too scary, violent, graphic, or nudity.

I would be ok showing mine this (7 and 9) but they have no interest in HP

A lot of this is down to the individual child. My 9 year old is still not ready for this, because I know he will find elements of it too dark.
My now 16 year old had watched it at 8, he coped with it fine.

Have you seen the film, op? If not, I would suggest you watch it first & then decide as you know your children best. As already said, the films get darker from here on in & there are a few scary moments during this film (my kids found the underwater scene and particularly scary) & a bit at the end (involving a death) that tbh I find distressing as an adult. DS was around 9 I think when he first saw it &Goblet of Fire is his favourite of all of them but even now at 12 he finds some parts scary still.

It's definitely one of those things where you know your children OP.
Y 5 yo twins haven't seen or read any HP, it's too scary for them.

Their best mate, also 5, has a sister who just turned 8. They have had HP books 1-5 read to them at bedtime and have seen films 1-5 and neither have been phased.

Hmm, interesting one (I'm a huge HP fan).

I am the same age as the Harry Potter actors, it was cast when I was their age so I would have been about 15 or 16 when I watched it.

I think the Prisoner of Azkaban is pretty creepy in itself, if they've seen that one.

The Goblet of Fire has a bit of a dark storyline throughout, and it loses the comedy elements of other films such as the early ones and the one with Umbridge and the twins. I'd say it's the darkest, because it doesn't have the humour of some of the others (because the book is so big they tend to cut the humourous stuff out).

It starts with Harry seeing an old man being murdered by nagini the snake. He then goes to the Quidditch match wheere the Death Eaters descend and set everything on fire. Moody joins the school - a creepy man with a magical eye. The Triwizard Tournament starts with pupils from other schools. Harry gets in even though he's underage so no one can understand how he managed to break it. The task with the dragon is pretty harmless but the one where he has to rescue people from the water is quite grim. There's a creepy bit with Barty Crouch who is behaving very oddly. Cedric is killed by Voldemort after transforming from being a creepy baby. There's a bit at a graveyard where he speaks to the death eaters and then Harry brings Cedric's dead body back. There's then a bit where it's revealed Moody is actually Barty Crouch JR and the real Moody is hidden in a trunk - and it was him who put Harry's name in the Goblet to try and kill him. the Dementors then murder Crouch.

So all in all - I'm not sure. It depends what your kids are expecting from it. 1 and 2 are quite jolly and funny in between the creepy bits, this one isn't, as it is the turning point for the series getting darker.

In terms of the overall arch, they wouldn't miss much from not seeing this one, it kind of stands alone in terms of the story.

I would suggest watching it yourself first, and watching it with them. You know your kids better than we do.

the book doesn't show a dead teenager lying on the floor or Harry being nearly drowned by gremlins, though.

My 7yo read the book and then watched the film. BUT with an adult watching too.