Asking other parents or going by my own memory isn't the best way to decide. There's a huge difference between just watching a movie for fun and watching it to decide whether or not it's appropriate for a seven year old. Especially if it's been several years. And the movie ratings are, in my opinion, worse than useless. Is everything PG or PG-13 these days?
But I think I've got this figured out!
I check the ratings on Netflix. I don't always agree with their suggested ages, but it gives me a place to start. If you follow the movie's link, it'll tell you what they found objectionable about that particular movie.
Of course that only works if you've got a Netflix subscription. The information comes from Common Sense Media. The IMDB also has a Parents Guide section in their movie listings.
I tend to disagree with the suggestions of both sites, especially when it comes to consumerism -- is it really going to scar my kids for life if a character gets coffee from Starbucks? -- but they do give me something to base my decisions on. What's really helped to decipher their system is to read their ratings for movies that I've recently watched. Sometimes they miss things that I find objectionable. Sometimes they object to things that I wouldn't have thought twice about.
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family
2 comments:
Michelle
This is my go-to site for kids movies. If you don't want to know the plot of the movie it is not that great but if you are trying to work out if the movie is going to be ok for your children it is brilliant.
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
They have three distinct categories for judging the film so it makes it really easy to work out if you want your child to see it.
My favorite, all-time Halloween movie is Hocus Pocus. Closely followed by Something Wicked This Way Comes. Yes, that's how I roll. LOL!!! :)
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