OT... Anyone See Avatar Yet?

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I am curious to know if anyone and their children have seen Avatar. I was curious to know why it is PG-13 (especially since the toys are in Happy Meals) and if the almost 3hr time is too boring for a child. My DS can stand 3 hours of excitment but 2 hours of talking and 1 hour of action won't work...any opinions?

 

[McDuck]

There is a lot of violence and bad language (esp from the military characters). The na'vi are quite scantily clad. I personally wouldn't bring a child for the profanity reason, but there were children in our showing and they didn't make a peep through the whole movie. We really enjoyed the movie and the special effects were very immersive (we saw it in IMAX 3d)

 

[The Hendies]

Just saw Avatar today and I guess from my perspective, the language and clothing thing were no big deal. In fact, I said it would take very little editing to make it a TV movie. They show alot worse stuff on TV. Maybe a few words will be removed, but not much. The question about whether or not it will keep your child entertained is another story. It is long, and although the plot kept me riveted, a young child may get bored with it.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Thank you both for the replies. Until Transformers I would not have even thought a movie with toys in a child's kid meal would be inappropriate. I think I will do some more research but since movies make it to DVD within a few months missing it would be no big deal.

 

[Aristomommy]

Avatar is another example of a movie that has kids toys and marketing attached to it, but isn't really suitable for kids. DH and I saw it this weekend and found it not appropriate for our 11 year old and almost 5 year old. I found the language and adult content to be the reason for PG 13. We saw many kids in the audience and the 3D images held their attention, but just like GI Joe, Transformers etc. we want our kids to wait to see them. There are so many other movies around the holidays that they want to see so they do not feel left out even though they have Avatar happy meal toys at home.

 

[arielmomma]

As an adult, I absolutely LOVED Avatar! However, I will not be taking my 5 year old. For me, it is the language and the battle scene violence. It is definitely not as bad as Transformers, but not designed for young children.

However, I absolutely recommend it to adults. It was awesome!

 

[dizneechic]

I usually look into what Common Sense Media says about movies. Not that we agree with them 100% of the time, but they give a pretty good heads up of what to expect.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/avatar

 

[stacy6552]

DH saw it and said "No way" for our 10 year old.

 

[PHXscuba]

DH and I saw Avatar and liked it. I would probably let my fairly-sheltered DS13 see it in the theater but not my younger kids. It's fairly violent (animals and people), some of the plot would go way over their heads, and it is pretty long.

There are several movies I have bought/rented on DVD for my DD10 and DD7 to watch at home instead of the theater. It isn't so intense in your well-lit living room, where you can pause the movie if someone gets scared or has questions.

I am also not a fan of using Happy Meal toys for PG-13 movies. Can't our kids stay little a little longer?

PHXscuba

 

[pixiewings71]

We just saw it last night, we would let our kids watch it but at home, not at a theater. There was also a scene with some sex in it, nothing overly obvious but it was clear what was happening at the time. It was a GREAT movie, visually it was amazing but it was long. And at the end I was ready for it to be over, theater seats just aren't as comfy as the ones we have at home.

 

[U2_rocks!]

My almost 10 year old DS could handle it in the theatre, but they strictly enforce PG 13 so they won't let him in. So I guess we'll wait for the DVD.