Is The Dark Knight Inappropriate for Kids?
I mentioned before that we took our kids to see The Dark Knight over the weekend. We actually took our whole family, including our six-year-old and our two eight-year-olds. And all of them loved it. My daughter would have been happier at the American Girl movie, but she stilled like “Batman” anyway. Our youngest kept his eyes on the screen for the whole movie; and it’s a long movie (two and a half hours). It was a huge success according to our family.
I rarely read reviews before we go to a movie. My criteria for taking the kids to the movies is (1) they are begging me to see it and (2) it’s not rated R or worse. With a PG-13 rating, The Dark Knight passed both those tests so we went. It wasn’t until after we saw the movie that I saw all the hype that the movie is too violent for children. And I was a little shocked. I didn’t think the movie was any more disturbing or gory than I expected it to be. It is a superhero movie after all. That means there will be fighting, things will blow up and people will die. And The Dark Knight? Check. Check. Check. Yep, it had all that.
Like a few other PG-13 movies, some kids will find The Dark Knight to be too scary for them. It does have a fantastic theme of dark vs. light (or good vs. evil) that may be a little disturbing to some kids. Heath Ledger played the role of The Joker to a tee. He was fantastically crazy and insane. And Two Face’s, well, face is a bit gross, but exactly what I would expect for Two Face. There was some blowing up and people did die, but there wasn’t any blood and guts. Well maybe blood, but you get my point. It wasn’t gory.
I’m not really sure what all the hype is about. I don’t think this movie is any different than say The Incredible Hulk or Spiderman I, II and III and I don’t remember this much debate about any of those movies. I’d say it’s your teen or older tween will be fine with it, but in the end you know your kids best. You know if this kind of movie will give your child nightmares or not. It’s not for every kid, but it’s no worse than other movies in it’s class.
I think your mistaken in your second rule using the MPAA’s rating system for heart. Your best using your own ideas about what is and is not appropriote for your children too see then a board of people who are objective about rating movies
I’m still thinking about taking my kids to see it – thanks for your insight!
Barbara
The Chicago Tribune leads its review with this warning: “Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids.” The New York Daily News tells us, “The PG-13 rating seems tame; this sucker is rough.”
I can’t really seem to depend on the ratings system much…there is such a huge disparity among PG-13 films these days! But thanks for your personal take…it will help in making our decision about this one!
I saw the movie with Christine and the kids. I agree that it is on the rougher end of the PG-13 rating, and every parent needs to decide for themselves. But, I think that some of the concern is over the pyschological aspects of the dark/light theme. Personally, I think some of these aspects are scarier to the older kids and to us adults than to the younger kids. Some of those concepts go over the heads of the younger viewers – they see the Batman hero vs. the bad guys.
It is a personal choice in what you allow your children to see. Me, personally, would never take a 6 or 8 yr old to see a PG13 movie. Children only get to be young and innocent once. It is the parent’s role to allow them to enjoy that time, not rush them into growing up. There is responsiblity that goes with being grown up and I don’t believe that a grade schooler has the same maturity level and ability to rational thinking that a high schooler has.
As I said, this is my personal view. I believe it is the parent’s job, not society’s, to steer our children into their adulthood with the morals and values that we believe to be important.
I found out that my ex took our 3 1/2 year old to Dark Knight over the weekend!!! Pause… waiting for you all to pick yourselves up off the floor. I could kill him! What the H was he thinking? I have long known he has a mental capacity a smidge above our son’s but this hits new lows. He thinks because they didn’t really show any blood and no guts, it’s ok for a 3 year old. I said, “were there any other 3 year olds in the theatre?”. “Ahhh, no”. “Well, then what does that tell you!”. I told him that Jace told me he was scared and then he seemed to feel a little bad. A little! He is soooooo completely clueless. He couldn’t manage to take take him to the pool over the weekend but takes him to a scary movie. It’s like he thinks of Jace as his buddy and what do buddies do but go to the movies together?! I think he could have waited a week and gone to that one alone. Idiot!
Lori – I completely understand where you are coming from. When my son was 5 he knew he could only watch movies rated G or PG. After a weekend with his dad, he tells me he saw Men In Black. I said “that’s PG13″. Son said “No it’s not, I asked dad and he said it was PG”. Not only was/is my ex an idiot but also an outright lier.
Something to keep in mind about the MPAA’s ratings. They’ve changed. Movies that were R when I was a teen (such as The Breakfast Club) would now be rated PG13 (such as The Break-Up or The Dark Knight). Society has CHANGED what is acceptable, but I haven’t.
My 9 year old daughter and a few of her friends went to see it with some parents this weekend. Of course the kids wanted to sit alone and away from parents. When my daughter ( who was always a bit squeemish for blood and gore) saw Two-face, that was it, The rest of the movie her head was buried in the seat. When we tried to take her out —”I’m not a baby, don’t treat me like one!” she whispered. But she didn’t look up, and there were tears in her and one other friends eyes at the end. This was not like Batman Begins. It is better for me, darker, more themeing on good/evil. But for my daughter…. far too disturbing, what with Harvey’s eye all wiggly and his muscles exposed. Even after I explained that this was all impossible, that, unfortunately, as a physician I have seen burn victims and to be like that ( basically he looked like something from a bad anatomy dissection) was impossible, she still had nightmares and refuses to talk about the incident. Every kid is different, but while Batman Begins was appropriate for a 9 year old, IMHO, and certainly for my child, Dark Knight is not. Really think hard, maybe even see it yourself first ( my big regret) before deciding whether it is right for your children.
lol lori wow its just a 3 year old that doesnt understand wats goin on and daddy can tell her to close her eyes no worries n language cuz there was hardly any ya she probobly shuldnt have seen it but wen u said “pause waiting for you to pick youself of the floor”instead of falling i chuckled cuz u were way over exhaggerating how bad it waslol
you can lol all you want – you are entitled to your opinion – but forgive if I don’t put too much weight behind what someone says who can’t even get the sex of said child right even though it was stated several times “our son” or “he”. Are you sure you didn’t fall on the floor cuz I think you may have hit your head? JMHO