Would you let a 6y/o see Barbie?

[44PumpLane]

I'm in two minds about this- kids have been invited to see Barbie the movie but it's rated 12A because of moderate sexual innuendo, brief harassment, catcalling and implied strong language (including bleeped out motherf*er).

Supposedly it has the words bitch, crap, God, hell and damn in.

What would you do? We wouldn't typically let the kids see anything with this sort of language but then it would mean missing out on someone's birthday party.

There is no chance of us seeing it before the girls as we would have to accept or decline the invite today.

I think the swearing would go over the heads of mine, but I definitely know it wouldn't others so they then might chat about it or discuss it afterwards.

Am I being too precious about it all?

YABU- let them go see it

YANBU- yeah I probably wouldn't let a 6 year old see it or I'd want to see it myself first to judge.

I can't wait to see it, I think a 6 year old would be bored.

I will be taking an 8&9 year old. They have heard swear words before and do not use them because they have been raised not to. They have seen kissing and skimpy clothes when walking down the high st on a Saturday afternoon but again know its not appropriate behaviour for them at their age. Most innuendo will go over their heads. Its marketed to kids and the 12a rating is a get out clause for the production companies and theatres against all the precious woke easily offended people. Make tour own mind up if you are a parent. Your choice your decision you are the parent and if you say no the kids have to just suck it up.

My daughter at that age would not have been able to sit still for that long!

Do you have to ask? It’s rated 12A.

It's not for children so no, I wouldn't let a 6yo watch it.

They can watch the 40+ existing Barbie films that are aimed at children instead.

It's not a kids film.

its clearly for adults

Some good points made. I think I won't be taking my 4 year old to the barbie movie, instead I think we may see the live action little mermaid - we watched the cartoon version a few weeks back and enjoyed it.

No, it's not a kids film.

Some of these comments are interesting! My nearly 6 year old wants to see it because she thinks it’ll be similar to the children’s Barbie films she’s seen at home. I won’t be taking her as I just don’t think it’s for her age group but I can’t wait to see it myself! I wouldn’t be particularly excited by it if it was marketed for kids. It also doesn’t really bother me if others decide to take their younger ones, each to their own 🤷‍♀️

There are tons of age appropriate films she can watch so it’s not really a huge issue. And surely sometimes you have to turn a party invite down, we certainly can’t go to every single one, I wouldn’t let that be the thing that sways you into agreeing to your children seeing a film you don’t feel is appropriate. But also children definitely play with barbies over the ages of 3-5! Why do we try and make them grow up too fast!

Because she has been invited to the party? It's fine for OP to ask opinions.

I wouldn't.
I'm 2 minds whether to take my about to be 12 year old. She loves barbie, but this isn't a traditional barbie film and it's not aimed at kids so I don't want to rain on her parade. But it is supposed to be very good and funny and suitable for barbie lovers so I probably will.

This is very obviously a movie aimed at adults - I'm 45 and planning to go with friends. The marketing of it has been aimed at an adult audience so I can only assume some people have seen 'Barbie', got confused and assumed it's for kids? I have a 6 year old DD and based on the trailer she'd be bored to tears at the adult chat.

I would because its part of a birthday party and wouldn't want her to miss out. Anything unsuitable for children is likely to go over her head anyway.

I feel like I’m living in a parallel universe 😁 so if I see a film about a child’s toy marketed to me via a trailer before a children’s film I am to assume it is aimed at adults and I’m some kind of naive simpleton for asking my child if they want to see it? Because I should have somehow known from this context and content it was an adult film for adults?

I assumed it was a more feminist take of something like Enchanted (fantasy character comes into real world, starring a proper actress - Amy Adams) but apparently it’s going to be like those Peppa pig remix videos on YouTube that look like they are for children but are full of adult content. Who knew? I mean not me obviously, from watching the trailer before the little mermaid film 😁

My issue with taking younger children to a 12A screening is that it is clearly not intended for them - both in tone and length - and so why would you risk them disrupting a screening for the people the film is intended for? The film synopsis is very clear that it's not aimed at kids, and all of the marketing has also been clear that it's a satirical comedy film aimed at adults who played with Barbie as a child, not a children's film about Barbie.

Even if the innuendo/sexual references etc all pass the kids by, it's a 2hr film ... add on the trailers/adverts etc and it's 2.5hrs minimum. My DD is a teen now and she's coming to see Barbie with me, well her and her friend are watching it at the same time but will be sitting well away from me and my friend because God forbid we're seen fraternising out in public together, but there is no way she would have sat and watched a whole 2hr film from start to finish at 5/6.

Even when she could sit through a whole film by about 7/8, there was still a lot of fidgeting/needing a wee/snacking/announcing whispering random observations to me throughout the film etc. This meant I rarely took her to the cinema unless it was specifically a kids film or a "kid friendly screening" (ie cheap early morning screening of a recent blockbuster where kids were welcome but you should expect all the disruption/noise etc that comes along with them) so that she wasn't disrupting anyone from the film, and if she was then it was to be expected due to the type of film/screening it was.

I have tickets for both Oppenheimer and Barbie for Friday - the former is a 15, the latter a 12A. I want to go and enjoy the films so I do not want them to be disrupted by children in the screenings who are too young to sit and watch it properly. I do not want to pay upwards of £20 a ticket to see a 12A film only to have it disrupted by bored 6yos who aren't interested in the actual storyline as they only wanted to come and see the pink Barbie world. This is why I have made sure the Oppenheimer tickets are for the afternoon when teens still at school and nobody is going to be bringing small children to Oppenheimer then the Barbie tickets are for a later evening showing in the hope that anyone taking small children will do so in the early evening showings so the later evening showings will be adults only or if there are kids it will be older teens who are more likely to actually sit through the whole film.

I didn't know that!

It's not 'very obvious'.

It's a 12a which means 12+ can go unsupervised and under 12 can go with an adult.

I would let them go. It isn't going to be anything extremely inappropriate otherwise it would be rated higher. Most adult themes will go over their head or they might get a bit bored. That's the worst that will happen.

People are reacting like kids are being taken to see 50 shades of grey.

I don't understand how anyone could look at it and think it was a film for kids other than the fact it's called Barbie what part of it makes you think it's a kids film?

The plotline being about a Barbie who lives in a perfect conformist world but has existential angst and thinks about dying (which is in the trailer) makes clear this is an adult film.

It has nothing to do with "oh lazy writing why can't they have written it without swear words" - it's clear that thematically it's not for children and explores very mature themes about existence, identity, and death. I think children would be pretty upset if they were expecting something similar to the zillions of Barbie movies made for kids. I saw an animated movie about cats when I was a kid because I loved Garfield but it was all about animals dying and it really traumatised me. No swears, no "adult content", just thematically far more mature for a child to be able to handle.

I can understand parents complaining that kids have seen the very heavy marketing and naturally are nagging to see it, but not everything has to be for kids.

A brief look at the BBFC also should make it clear that it is definitely not a kids film and the 12A cert is not just a "get out clause" it is there because the themes/content is not appropriate for younger viewers:

^Barbie and Ken leave Barbieland and venture to
California where they encounter the realities of
being human in this lighthearted US comedy. It explores themes of gender roles and patriarchy through a satirical lens.^

Violence

Comic fight scenes include undetailed punches, kicks, headbutts and use of improvised weapons.

Threat and horror

Infrequent scenes of mild threat include a car chase. This occurs within a comic context.

Language

There is a use of bleeped strong language ('motherf**ker'), as well as moderate bad language (‘bitch’) and milder terms such as 'crap', 'God', 'hell' and 'damn'.

Sex

Moderate innuendo includes occasional gags about 'beaching off' and 'sugar daddies'.

Sexual violence and sexual threat

There is a scene of sexual harassment in which men catcall a woman and make inappropriate comments about her appearance. A man slaps a woman's bottom, however, his behaviour is immediately challenged and results in negative consequences.

Dangerous behaviour

A child melts a doll's hair using a lighter.

Theme

There are occasional verbal references to death and mental health. Occasional references are made to patriarchal attitudes about women’s roles in society. These attitudes are clearly condemned and satirised.

It’s tricky when your child’s friends’
parents are parenting differently from you. For the sake of her not missing out on the party, I’d probably let her go. It’s not like it’s an 18 movie.

Robbie responded, “This is such a thing people say when they do press for a movie. They’re like, ‘It’s for everyone.’ But it was literally crafted to be for everyone.”
She continued, “Like [director] Greta [Gerwig] said from the beginning, this is a big pie and everyone is invited. So in that way it really is for everyone. And the comedy plays on so many different, the whole movie plays on so many different levels. I mean so much of it is so silly, and absurd, and ridiculous. And I think little kids in particular and people who care about, you know, design, things like that are just going to be blown away by Barbieland.”

https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/07/12/margot-robbie-confirms-barbie-film-is-for-children-film-includes-man-playing-doctor-barbie/amp/

I only knew of it and presumed it was for kids. I hadn't looked at the synopsis.

Have the parents of the 5 year olds (soon to be 6) actually seen this film? If not they are going to be in for a shock watching with 5 and 6 year olds. It’s NOT a film for young kids. It says Barbie in the title and that’s about as young kid friendly as it gets.
IMO really quite stupid as many very young kids are going to get exposed to stuff they shouldn’t be- but that seems to be the way the world is going. Exposing younger and younger children to inappropriate language and sexual content. Sad times.