Movie Ratings

Back in July, we purchased a Spiderman (cartoon) DVD for Dylan's birthday.  He was turning 3 and was recently enjoying pretending to be Spiderman.  Dale watched this DVD with the kids.  He later told me that there were a couple curse words in the movie.  I was shocked.  Really, in a Spiderman cartoon?  Needless to say, we threw the DVD away.

While discussing what we had discovered with my sister, she said, "Did you check the rating?".  Well, of course not because it was a Spiderman cartoon.  It never crossed my mind that it would have inappropriate language.  Dasia wasn't interested in super heroes and this was our first experience with any movie like that.

Recently, while at the movie theater, I saw a flyer about movie ratings.  This is what I learned....

G - General Audience, All Ages Admitted: A G-rated motion picture signifies that the film rated contains nothing most parents will consider offensive for even their youngest children to see or hear.  Nudity, sex scenes, and scenes of drug use are absent; violence is minimal; snippets of dialogue may go beyond polite conversation but do not go beyond common everyday expressions. 

PG - Parental Guidance Suggested.  Some Material May Not Be Suitable for Children.: The PG rating indicates that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children.  A PG rated motion picture may contain some profanity and some depictions of violence, sensuality or brief nudity.  But, these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance.  There is no drug use content in a PG rated motion picture. 

(Ratings descriptions were taken from the brochure printed by the The Classification and Rating Administration.  For more information, see www.filmratings.com.)

I was suprised that the PG rating meant that a movie may contain some profanity and brief nudity.  I hadn't given it much thought.  We only take the kids to movies that are G at the theater, but as far as movies that we rent to view at home, we weren't necessarily checking the rating.  I do monitor the cartoons that we view on tv and those usually are only on in the morning.  Once afternoon arrives, the cartoons appear to be targeted to older children. 

In the future, before I purchase any DVDs at Wal-Mart, I will be checking the rating.  I was very thankful that Dale watched the movie with the kids so that we were aware of the content.