Do you let your preschooler watch Pirates of the Caribbean or other pg movies?

[siddie]

I'm just dying to see Pirates but it seems like it may be a bit scary for preschoolers? What do you think? I am not going to see Cat in the Hat, I think there is too much media hype and it sounds like they ruined a good story for kids. I heard about the double entrende jokes Mike Myers makes that are not appropriate for kids - plus the playing in the medicine cabinet is not something I want my son to see. Anyway, some of my friends won't even let their kids see pg movies like Shrek which I think is totally okay for kids and much better than a lot of Disney movies like Brother Bear.

[oncewerewise]

I don't know what Pirates of the Caribbean is about, but I did take my kids (4 and 2) to see the Cat in the Hat. My 4 year old liked it a lot. I was thoroughly disappointed -- not what I wanted it to be at all. I loved the remake of the Grinch though. I guess I had high expectations. *sigh*

But, I digress. I do let my daughters watch other PG movies -- Lizzie McGuire, etc. My 2 year old rarely sits still for a movie so I don't think she catches much of anything. My 4 year old takes what she wants from it -- in other words, I don't think she catches any double entendres or whatnot because they are not something that she knows about. I think it's more sensitive when they're around 8 and too young to really be exposed to adult humour but old enough to get that it's there. Does that make any sense?

I *usually* try to prescreen movies for my girls, but I did let my mom and stepdad take my oldest to see School of Rock which she LOVED! Like I said, I don't think any of the adult humour makes sense to her.

So, that's my two cents!

[kama'aina mama]

I take it case by case. Shrek is fine by me but I wouldn't let my 3 y/o see Pirates. I fear she has seen some of it though at a neighbors. They bought pirated versions and they have no sense of what is appropriate and don't care. DD goes over now and then to play with their 4 y/o son and they are simply not the type to turn of something violent on account of kids or tell them to go outside or whatever.

[Missgrl]

Well.....I let my 5 year old watch it and fortunately he fell asleep
before the men turned into fighting skeletons. When that scene first came on
I was glad he fell asleep b/c that would have scared him. But only b/c he's
scared of everything!!!
If your child is not a scared type person then the movie might be ok. There is no language or sex or anything.....just the skeletons that get creepy!

EVery child is different so you need to go by your kids' personality.

[Arduinna]

I took it on a case by case basis too. Also really depends on the child IMO (speaking generally about content). My dd was and is pretty sensitive, I wouldn't have let her see Pirates as a toddler (she is a teen now).

[Victorian]

my four year old dd loved this movie! We usually let her watch movies as she is not easily scared. We always watch it first however and explain to her what is in the movie. For instance, we told her about the skeletons and especially the part with the monkey jumping out before we watched. Then she asks questions and decides if she wants to watch it. Then while we are watching, we remind her when something scary is coming up. We never let her watch alone, TV is a family thing around here. She loved the "pirate princess". I would much rather her watch a girl that kicks butt than some movie where the girl waits around to be saved. She also loves Harry Potter. She is totally obsessed with Hermonine.

Now on the other hand, if the show is rated PG because it has "adult themes" such as rape or spousal abuse, I would not let her watch it. I think that I would rather her watch these kinds of movies than some stuff she could turn on TV and watch.

[journeymom]

That's why it's called "Parental Guidance". There is such a wide variety of movies that fit in the PG catagory.

Now, I thoroughly enjoyed Pirates, but did not take either the 8 y.o. or the 4 y.o. I don't think either could deal with the skeletons. Depending on the movie, 4 y.o. ds could be in the same room and not notice the movie, unless it was really noisy or graphic. And I do have to remind myself that 8 y.o. dd is not as sensitive as I was at her age.

None the less! My teenaged sisters in law babysat ds just this evening while we took dd out. We found out when we got ds home that they watched The Hulk. The Hulk is PG-13! They've done this before,too. It's completely unconsious; it's not as though they do it on purpose. But there was "The Night Before Christmas", a wonderful movie but just a little too dark for preschoolers, thank you very much! And there are other examples that I can't think of at the moment.

The ironic thing is, mil and fil are conservative, religious people who don't allow R movies in the house, indeed don't watch them themselves. They just aren't very thoughtful in this regard.

T Sorry!

[oncewerewise]

Oh, I love The Nightmare Before Christmas -- and I received it as a gift before I had children. And, when my daughter was about 2, she asked if she could watch it. I told her if she got scared we'd turn it off. She loved it and it's one of her favourite "Christmas" movies! She's very disappointed this year because she lent it to a friend and didn't get it back and now he's in Australia for 6 months. I definitely think with movies and books and whatever else, you have to take into account the content and the child.

[Els' 3 Ones]

DH bought Pirates! (ugh, Disney)

We just watched it the other night, explained to the kids abt the skeletons.............they were fine (9yo & 6yo) ........ Duncan (4.5yo) was asleep abt 1/3 of the way thru. Dunc may well not like it, we won't go out of the way to find out. He loves Shrek (acts out some of the parts! ), did not like Nemo at the theatre, does not like Wizard of Oz. So, we go case by case.

As for myself and POC, I could just eat Johnny Depp!!!! A pleasure to watch. The female role is a good one also, as someone mentioned above. Overall, a pretty good movie imo.


El

[jeca]

Well I took my 6 year old to see The haunted Mansion cause he was just begging to see it. It was rated PG but is in no way a PG movie IMO. I think it should be PG-13 at least so I don't know about those ratings.

[Nankay]

I have an 8 yr old and a 5 yr old and there's no way they could watch Pirates! Too scary for my kids. Shoot, they're both scared to death of Bruce the shark in Nemo! We have seen Elf though, and Shrek and Scooby Doo. So PG is iffy. My 5 yr old wanted to see Haunted mansion but I said NO to that one knowing it would be too scary.