Toy Story movie for kids- what age??

[Ariel on Land]

My twins turned 3 in April, and I'd like for them to see Toy Story since it's all over the place right now, and really is a cute movie, but I'm really not so sure about the toy torture scenes. So far the only movies they've seen are Nemo, Cars, Peter Pan and Jungle Book, and even in Nemo, one of them runs to the other room each time the sharks come on screen. And I know not to even TRY something like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, or Little Mermaid right now. So what are your thoughts? How'd your kids handle those scenes? And while we're at it-- what about Monsters Inc?

 

[roobug]

My twin boys are almost two and they LOVE toy story 1 and 2. They had a really hard time with Cars when the cars crashed they would cry, but for Toy Story they don't get upset about anything - they love when woody does the dance after they tell sid to be nice to the toys. Granted they are younger then yours so there is a lot that they might not understand.

They got pretty upset during Monster's Inc so they have not seen that whole movie, and for Nemo we only start it after the Mom dies, they do get worried at the end when dori gets upset. Toy Story is the only one that they don't seem to get worried or upset during.

 

[TinkInPink]

Oh good lord. It's a G rated Disney movie. Have they ever popped the head off a barbie, broken a wheel off a tonka truck? well there you have it, the amount of graphic violence portrayed in the toy story series... So yeah, let them watch it, it's one of, if not my favorite disney film. I baby sit kids younger than three who have seen and liked and were not permanently scarred from toy story. They will be fine.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I think 1 is a little scary, 2 not at all, so I might start with 2 and if they like it try 1. At that age they won't care that the plots are out of sequence.

 

[MistressMerryweather]

I agree. 1 is a little scary for littles, but 2 isn't. I would definitely watch 3 first or wait for some good reviews. I am taking our 5 and almost 7 yo to the drive-in on Friday night.

 

[tigger51276]

Honestly I had never seen any of the Toy Stories, I've seen all the other Disney and Pixar movies but for some reasons I hadn't seen those, until this week that is. It just happen to come on the Disney Channel this week, most likely because 3 comes out this week, and my 23 month old just stood there and watched it as if in a trance. I finally asked her after about 45 mins if she wanted to sit next to me and get comfy and she nodded yes, came over and sat on the couch right back into a trance....she loved it! I couldn't believe it, this kid hardly sits long enough to watch a 20 mins cartoon and here she was and hour and a half into Toy Story. She was very upset when I told her at 8:30 that it was well past her bedtime and she needed to sleep... Thankfully it was on another channel the next night along with number 2 and she sat through the whole of number 1 and most of number 2. She liked 1 better. I am actually thinking of taking her to a 10am showing of number 3 on Monday morning at the movies to see if she likes it.

As for Monster's Inc, my now 6 year old LOVED that movie when she was 2 or 3 years old. She has watched it hundreds of times...in fact when they did Monsters Inc on Ice she insisted we go to see it!

I think it all depends on the kid and their sensitivity level. If my daughter even caught on to certain things and asked me about them I told her what happened, that yes it was sad, but it's just pretend and she accepted that.

 

[Disneychix]

DH and I were just talking about how TS1 is a little scary. We started DS on TS2 and he LOVES it! We only recently saw TS1 and he liked it but was missing Jessie!

BTW, DS LOVES Monsters Inc too. He started watching it about age 2.5 (he's 3.5 now) and he'd sit there and say "no, no" when it was scary at the begining but he loved it! He was also scared of Aladin at first "no lion!" but he kept watching it over and over. I think he secretly likes the thrill of being scared!

 

[SCHBR'smom]

One of my DD's turned 3 less than a week ago. She has been obsessed with the toy story toys, so for her birthday last Saturday, we let her watch both movies, 1 & 2. She loved them and wasn't scared one bit. We're going to take the whole family on Saturday as a late birthday present for her.

 

[las3888]

That's kinda funny that a few mentioned starting with TS2--the opening scene is Buzz fighting Zurg and ends up getting destroyed by Zurg (although it's only a video game that Ham is playing)--we couldn't get past that until last summer when DS was about 4.5...maybe skip that first scene as it could be an issue?

Good luck...

 

[princessmom29]

I don't see a problem with either one. DD has been watching them since 2 at least and they are some of her favorites now at 6. I didn't think anything was overly scary and would never have thought not to let a 3 year old watch them.

 

[MSSANDRA]

DGS 3 loves the first two. DS was 3 when the 1st one came out and he loved it as well!!!

DGS can get scared a little in some movies but tends to do better with animation than real life. Remember it is 3-D, so that is a whole new issue. We have been talking about that so we will see. We will not get there till early next week so would love to hear from those that go this week-end!

 

[momofboyz]

Ds#4 is 22months and loves Toy Story 1 and 2. He gets excited when they come on and recites scenes from the movies. He even yells "To infinity and Beyond" while throwing his buzz sippy cup in church.

 

[Ariel on Land]

Oh good lord. It's a G rated Disney movie. Have they ever popped the head off a barbie, broken a wheel off a tonka truck? well there you have it, the amount of graphic violence portrayed in the toy story series... So yeah, let them watch it, it's one of, if not my favorite disney film. I baby sit kids younger than three who have seen and liked and were not permanently scarred from toy story. They will be fine.

You're not a mother are you???

To the rest of you--- thanks for the suggestions about starting w/ TS2. I haven't seen it in a long time, and was having a hard time remembering what happened in it. Probably a good idea to start with that one!

 

[princessmom29]

You're not a mother are you???

To the rest of you--- thanks for the suggestions about starting w/ TS2. I haven't seen it in a long time, and was having a hard time remembering what happened in it. Probably a good idea to start with that one!

I AM a mom and I agree with her. I was just a little more subtle about how I said it. My 6 year old has seen the LOTR movies, Avatar ect and is not scarred by it, violent, or having nightmares. If fact she is very well adjusted, indepenedent and not scared by much. I say that at least some of that comes from NOT sheltering her from every little thing that might scare her. Obviously, there are parents out there that feel differently about it, but this has always been the stance we have taken in raising our child so some parents do indeed feel this way.

 

[EKW]

Torture scenes? If anything, what will set your kids off is when Buzz jumps off the landing and breaks.

My older son was 4 months old when the movie came out...I thought he'd sleep thru so I could see it. Nope...he wouldn't even take his bottle. He wanted to see it. Then, starting when he was 2 or so, it was one of his favorite movies for almost 3 years.

He used to sob at the landing scene every time.

Did is warp him? No.

We're headed to TS3 today. I keep teasing him, asking if he's gonna crawl up and sit in my lap for this one like he did for the first two. BTW...he's 5' 10" and almost 15 years old now!

 

[JenM]

I saw it this morning, and there were a lot of little ones in the theater - it was IMAX/3D, too...and they seemed fine. It was the adults that were bawling at the end.

I had seen it early because we're planning to take my nephew to see it on Sunday. He's 2-1/2 and this would be his first movie in the theater, so I wanted to make sure it was OK. He loves Toy Story, and he sits through the the first two movies really well, and those have pretty scary parts too. He also loves UP and Happy Feet, which both get intense as well.

The landfill scene gets very intense (I'm 35 and I was holding my breath for the toys by the end of it!), and but honestly I don't think it was worse than the toys coming to life in Sid's backyard or the airport chase in the second film. The villian is mean, but he's just as mean as Sid or Stinky Pete was.

I think it's ok, but it really depends on the kid and how they handle this kind of stuff in other movies.

 

[mdsouth]

My whole family went to see Toy Story 3 today. We were all disappointed in it. There were more scary, intense moments in the movie than comedy. My DD who is seven was upset at times. The scariest parts come when the toys are trying to get out of the landfill/garbage machine.

I just don't understand the Disney writers and executives. I think they are forgetting their key audience for this movie and other animation ones. The key audience is kids ten and under with a huge following in the six and under crowd. Kids in this age group want to see funny shows. They love the corny jokes and silly situations. They are not really into adult humor or a heavy storyline.
Disney writers need to quit trying to please each other and other adults and focus on what little kids would like to see.

All the previews showed the comic elements of the show and none of the scary stuff. If you have seen the recent tv commercials for the show, you have seen all the funny stuff. It is really too bad that Disney once again chose to do a dark comedy instead of the light-hearted plain funny show. Why or why? My kids and I would just love to see a fun light-hearted show.

 

[gabriellyn]

We saw it yesterday - my 3yo had NO ISSUES whatsoever. We ALL loved it - from parents to teen to tween to preschooler. DS3 prefers TS2 because he is slightly scared by Sid in TS1, but he'll watch that too. However... I will say that DS3 watches many movies that are not considered children's movies (like Avatar) and he LOVES those.

 

[princessmom29]

We saw TS3 today and everyone LOVED it including DD6. Yes, it was darker than the others and we discussed it at dinner. We came to the conclusion that everything cannot always be sunshine and lollipops and really have any relavence at all. That kind of "Barney World" lost all appeal to DD at about 2 1/2, and I hated every minute of it. It was a GREAT movie and had a lots of relevance to children about loyalty to friends and doing what is right even when it is hard. I don't think you can convey that kind of message without the "dark parts".

 

[EKW]

Pixar makes quality movies...not pablum! Here's the deal: your kids are going to get scared, be sad, etc. You cannot protect them from it...it's life! How much easier it is to have experienced this in a movie theater, where there's a happy ending and the lights come up...for the first time. It helps kids build their emotional skills.

Kids are not as fragile as you think!

The best way to set your child up for failure in life is to do everything you can to protect them from reality. I worked with a woman who had been her parent's little princess. When her car was broken into and her purse was stolen she had to go into therapy. How much better off would she have been had her parents not spent the previous 22 years making sure she never had to deal with anything stressful or unpleasant!