Star Wars Return of the Sith, WHY is it a 15 and should I try to sneak a 7yo in to see it anyway?

[WideWebWitch]

Ds is a Star Wars fan and has been for ages. He has millions of Star Wars figures, all the films, light sabers (thanks Janh for some of them!) queued in Virgin to get a dvd set signed by Darth Vader etc. And he is absolutely heartbroken that the new Star Wars film is a 15. Does anyone know why? And, I think I know the answer, but would anyone attempt to sneak him in anyway? He's tall but, obviously, not 15. However, the people manning the ticket booths and taking tickets at the local cinemas are spotty youths who probably don't know the difference between a 7yo and a 15yo. Or would they? Does everyone? I am torn. I bought 2 tickets before I knew it was a 15 for the first day it's on. Happy for dp to see it first to check why it's a 15 but also would like to know what you think - if dp thinks it's Ok for ds to watch should we try to get him in?

Gorgeous even!

Yoda is a Jedi knight? Does he have a saber? (Or are there non-knight Jedis?)

Jan!!!!!

Knicker droppingly!!!!!

rofl

Yoda has a light saber that's bigger than him!

and this is one instance where size really does matter

I'm talking to myself on a Star Wars thread - how bad is that??

ROFL

Am I the only one who just never really understood what was going on?

I only ever really saw (IYKWIM) Star Wars 1, roisin - ie STAR WARS - never saw the others except fragmentedly (?) in vid. So STAR WARS is the one that made the impression on me.

Except for Yoda's ENORMOUS SABER, obviously.

Tutb has been texting one of his mates about this (how old are they???) and he is right. (well, he would be!!)

Obi Wan and Yoda both survive, Obi is a Jedi and Yoda is a Jedi Master. All the others are killed.

And Yoda doesn't get his saber out in Star Wars!!

That will be why I don't remember it then, lili - thank you! (To tutb too )

I saw Star Wars when I was young enough and childless enough to still have some brain cells left so I got very engrossed.

Thanks everyone. So, does 12A mean parental advisory, i.e. you can take them if you want to? Dp seems to think it means accompanied, I think he's wrong. I'll go and look on the bbfc site. Ha ha at dark side socks lilibet! Janh, ds and dd were playing with light sabers just now, she had a soft inflatble orange one (free, we didn't buy her one specially or anything!) and he has a new, talking blue one but yep, yours are still played with when friends are here! I think ds finds things much less scary than I would, I jump out of my skin in Jurassic Park where he doesn't turn a hair so I don't think I can veto it on violence grounds roisin, as dp says when would we let him see it? When he's 8,9, 10? Thanks everyone.

DH took our 6 year old to see LOTR, he's seen quite a few 12A - I think basically they're passing the buck to the parents as these films really are borderline and some kids are more easily scared than others - my friend was worried about taking her 5 year old to see finding nemo because of the shark!!

I can't see it being a 15 they would lose too much money cutting out 50% of their target audience - also why make toys/action figures for a 15 rated film ?

From BBFC.org Definitions are a bit subjective. How many 'fucks' is infrequent? How many gory moments counts as occasional? Do you think the censors sit there counting them with 5-barred gates and compare notes afterwards?

Looks like DP is right though, the A means accompanied. Anyway looking at this it shouldn't be too horrid...???

Well I'm glad it doesn't seem to be a 15 - quite surprised they've made it a 12A. We are a household of die-hard SW fans - ds1 will be gutted if he can't see it but he's only 8. Ds2 too - and he's only 3!

I guess it means the Jedis in training are slain - obviously Obi Wan and Yoda survive because they're in the later (earlier!) ones. And DV is still technically a Jedi even though he has turned to the Dark Side. And Luke and Leia are potential Jedis...

I am really looking forward to seeing it (go on, call me sad) even though the recent ones have been pretty poor in comparison to the original 3. I want to see how it all ties together - how drippy Anakin "I am made of wood you know" Skywalker morphs into Darth "I am your father" Vader. Cool. I think dh and I will see it at the flicks and ds1 can see it when it comes out on DVD, if we think it's OK. I cannot see a scenario where we say he can't see it (unless it's truly terrifying) - it's a crucial part of the story and he's been a fan since he was two!

Did I kill the Star Wars thread?

Bubblerock - we did take ds2 to see Finding Nemo when he was 5, or maybe 4 I can't remember, and he was terrified, traumatised and had nightmares! It does depend on individual children, and their temperaments. (They both used to cry at Thomas the Tank Engine when the trains crashed! LOL)

But it's obviously genetic ... I had nightmares after LOTR1
and therefore declined to see 2&3 on the big screen!

DS1 used to be very sensitive, but seems to be made of sterner stuff now. He's almost 8, so I guess he will probably get to see the Star Wars.

Postmortem on here in a few weeks' time?!

WWW and Marthamoo - at what age/which film did your dss watch Harry Potter or LOTR on the big cinema screen?

My ds has just been invited to a birthday to watch a 12A next week and is very worried about going because it might be scary. He's 10 and has refused to see any more HP films after the first one (he is very sweet and brave in other ways, honest). This is absolutely no help to anyone of course, but I do think the 12A classification is quite a sensible one, as these judgements are so child-dependent. I would be inclined to think that if it's a film you know you'll be happy for him to see when it's out on DVD then it will probably be fine

Local cinemas round us are advertising it as PG TBC (presumably for To Be Confirmed). DS1 wants to take some friends for his 7th birthday and I'm delighted at the prospect of not organising a party, but obiously not desperate to terrify someone else's child. Not to mention DD, who's also a big fan.
As a major fan, I'm wondering whether I shouldn't go and see it first, just to check how scary it is

Sounds like it's definitely one to go and see first for the under 12's. I'm sure DH would be happy to do the honours - what a hardship!

Roisin, ds1 hasn't seen any of the LOTR films - too scary imo. He saw the first HP film on DVD when he was 7 (in fact, one of my first ever posts on MN was about how he had watched HP1 on DVD at school - it's a PG - in Year One: I went in and complained vociferously as dh and I had decided he was too young to see it at 6). He's actually only been to the cinema once - to see Shark's Tale. I would never take him to the cinema to see a film unless I was sure it was pretty tame.

But he watched Star Wars for the first time aged 2, and was instantly hooked! Dh and I will vet the new SW film first (and obviously he won't be able to see it at the cinema as he's only 8) and I hope it's OK for him to see - he'll be really disappointed otherwise.

Oh sorry - just re-read Jan's post and he could see it at the cinema at 8, so long as we went with him. I think we'll wait for the DVD though (not dh and I - we're going to the pictures to see it!)

marthamoo - lol at made of wood you know!

www, we will be taking ds2 who is 8 to see it. We went to see Sahara at weeknd and that was a 12A and I jumped at something but that was about it - but I'm a softee!

Did you lilibet? That's the one that ds has been invited to this weekend. Is it OK for a softee 10 year old do you think? (please say yes, he's accepted the invitation!)