Toy Story movie for kids- what age??

[KissMickey4U?]

No one yell at me, but isn't that the point of Disney's movies? To teach children different types of emotions... Happy, Sad, scared, angry! Those scenes are made so that children will learn how they feel when something on the screen happens. Telling your children that the Shark scene in nemo is not real will help. If you reenforce the fact that it is scary then they will continue to be scared. Disney is not trying to traumatize your child they are trying to bring out their emotions so that children will learn. In every Disney movie there is a sad part I don't think I have seen one yet that didn't bring me to tears even a little bit.
Don't let your children be afraid of feeling something let them know what they are feeling right then and why they are feeling it.

 

[pixidustmom]

Took DGS 21 months and he enjoyed it. We saw it in 3D but he didn't keep glasses on, but still sat through it. I loved it. He kept saying Woody, each time he saw him. He watches 1 and 2 all the time. They are the only movies he will watch all the way through. He loves them.

 

[ShannonMB]

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.

I think the reason that a lot of Disney movies become classics is that they appeal to ALL audiences, not just the kids. I agree with another poster that almost any Disney movie that has stayed around awhile has some scary AND sad parts that challenge the characters and the audience to really FEEL. If it were all silliness and corny jokes, they'd be forgotten as soon as they left theaters.

Becoming emotionally invested in characters drawn as pictures or computer animation is really amazing, and Disney does it best!

 

[honeymooner2004]

We took my 4 yr old to see #3 on Friday. It was geared more for adults. She has watched #1 and 2 w/o any issues, but #3 upset her a bit. Mainly b/c she has a babydoll who is very similar looking to the "bad baby" and that was a bit upsetting to her. She kept asking if her baby was bad. The seen where they are all trying to escape the garbage pit of fire (whatever it's called) made her cry to. Other than that it was a good movie. My only big gripe with the Pixar movies is that there are too many bad or sad parts to these movies. Not enought fun and cheerfulness. I know our world is not like it was 30 or 40 years ago, but movies are to take you away to a place and forget about the trials and tribulations of every day life. To let kids be kids and these movies are just reminding us to the troubles of everyday. I don't mind my DD watching these every now and then, but I still prefer the Disney classics.

 

[princessmom29]

We took my 4 yr old to see #3 on Friday. It was geared more for adults. She has watched #1 and 2 w/o any issues, but #3 upset her a bit. Mainly b/c she has a babydoll who is very similar looking to the "bad baby" and that was a bit upsetting to her. She kept asking if her baby was bad. The seen where they are all trying to escape the garbage pit of fire (whatever it's called) made her cry to. Other than that it was a good movie. My only big gripe with the Pixar movies is that there are too many bad or sad parts to these movies. Not enought fun and cheerfulness. I know our world is not like it was 30 or 40 years ago, but movies are to take you away to a place and forget about the trials and tribulations of every day life. To let kids be kids and these movies are just reminding us to the troubles of everyday. I don't mind my DD watching these every now and then, but I still prefer the Disney classics.

What about Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, and even Snow White. There is PLENTY to be scared of in all of those and they are still considered Disney classics. I would put this movie right up there with then for both being a great movie for kids and a great way to teach life lessons and help kids learn early that "negative emotions" are normal and acceptable. Fluff movies like the buddies series, ect simply don't cut it in our house. If we are watching something it will have some sort of value and validity. I don't think there are and "bad" parts in any pixar movie I have seen, and as for the sad parts, they would not be the fabulous classic films they are without them. They would just be more useless fluff without any kind of relavance or useful message.

 

[Alesia]

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.

As a mom and someone who's worked with preschool aged children for the last 18 years, I agree completely. Parents do not give their kids (even very young kids) enough credit. The few times my daughter has been scared or upset by something it's given us an opportunity to discuss those things. That's the great thing about movies: they give us a chance to experience the things that we will all inevitably experience in our lives (pain, sadness, fright, death, etc.) in a safe and controlled environment. That makes it much easier to deal with those things when confronted with them in real life.

 

[MoonFaerie]

As a mom and someone who's worked with preschool aged children for the last 18 years, I agree completely. Parents do not give their kids (even very young kids) enough credit. The few times my daughter has been scared or upset by something it's given us an opportunity to discuss those things. That's the great thing about movies: they give us a chance to experience the things that we will all inevitably experience in our lives (pain, sadness, fright, death, etc.) in a safe and controlled environment. That makes it much easier to deal with those things when confronted with them in real life.

You also have to factor in different children's sensitivities.

We saw Toy Story 3 today. My dd is the type that just floats along and adjusts easily. She was a little anxious during parts of the movie, but she was really fine with all of it. Just like I knew she would be.

DS, on the other hand was already getting upset before any intense parts. He was so startled he jumped when Woody and Slinky were sneaking up behind the Monkey. At that point, he asked to sit in my lap. During the scary parts, he was so nervous and afraid he was shaking and crying. No, I don't think he's scared for life, but I'd put money on the fact that he'll have nightmares tonight, going by past experiences.

Just because a child is easily bothered by scary or sad scenes in movies doesn't necessarily mean that the child is being shielded from everything. Nor does it mean that they aren't being taught about how to deal with and express emotions. That's a virtually daily discussion with him for us.

FWIW, ds watches and loves Star Wars and LOTR. No problems at all. He also had no problems with movies when he was younger. It's really just been in the past year or so (he's almost 7) that he's gotten so extremely sensitive.

 

[Pookasaurus]

My son is 3.5 and loves Toy Story 1 and 2 (watching 1 right now actually!). We took him to see Toy Story 3 last night and he was fine with it. I agree that it depends on the child.

 

[princessmom29]

You also have to factor in different children's sensitivities.

We saw Toy Story 3 today. My dd is the type that just floats along and adjusts easily. She was a little anxious during parts of the movie, but she was really fine with all of it. Just like I knew she would be.

DS, on the other hand was already getting upset before any intense parts. He was so startled he jumped when Woody and Slinky were sneaking up behind the Monkey. At that point, he asked to sit in my lap. During the scary parts, he was so nervous and afraid he was shaking and crying. No, I don't think he's scared for life, but I'd put money on the fact that he'll have nightmares tonight, going by past experiences.

Just because a child is easily bothered by scary or sad scenes in movies doesn't necessarily mean that the child is being shielded from everything. Nor does it mean that they aren't being taught about how to deal with and express emotions. That's a virtually daily discussion with him for us.

FWIW, ds watches and loves Star Wars and LOTR. No problems at all. He also had no problems with movies when he was younger. It's really just been in the past year or so (he's almost 7) that he's gotten so extremely sensitive.

See, to me that is a completely different situation. Obviously it is a phase he is gong through, and you are dealing with it, not hiding from it. My problem is with the parents I saee who shield their children from anything potentially upsetting rather than discussing/dealing with them. Because you are meeting it head on and dealing with what is upsetting him, this to shall likely pass. There are children in DD's class who have been so sheltered that they had no idea how to deal with the death of a butterfly in their butterfly garden. They we totally shattered, and there were angry phone calls from parents because the children were told that the butterfly had died!! what else was the teacher supposed to do when they came in from recess and found it? Lie to the kids? These are the kids I worry about, not kids like your DS.

 

[katied]

As a mom and someone who's worked with preschool aged children for the last 18 years, I agree completely. Parents do not give their kids (even very young kids) enough credit. The few times my daughter has been scared or upset by something it's given us an opportunity to discuss those things. That's the great thing about movies: they give us a chance to experience the things that we will all inevitably experience in our lives (pain, sadness, fright, death, etc.) in a safe and controlled environment. That makes it much easier to deal with those things when confronted with them in real life.

I agree with this. DH plans to take DS (age 3) to TS3 in the next week or so. DH has taken DS to the movies twice before. DS does get scared - he was scared at times with the Princess and the Frog, he was scared watching Nemo, he was scared watching Monsters Inc. He also got scared by the snow monster in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but he's asked to see that movie about 15 times (and still needs to be cuddled during the scenes with the monster).

While at the movies (or watching DVDs at home) DH sits right there with DS (or holds him) and they talk all about it after the movie - what was scary and why, what was funny, etc. DS comes home full of stories and talks about the movies he saw endlessly. DS sleeps thru the night after just fine. He then asks to see the movies again (he doesn't understand that while we can play the movies we have on DVD over and over, the ones he sees at the theater can't be watched over and over.)

 

[mom of princessx2]

We went today with 7 kids total ranging in age from 2-8 and they were all okay with it but as pp stated most adults needed a tissue at the end.

I would add that the 8yo boy, who is a bit more emotional, wouldn't talk about it after but the rest were girls and they loved it. I wouldn't really consider any of the parts scary. There were some suspenseful parts and "Big Baby" was a bit freaky but nothing really scary.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We took our 2 1/2 year old to see it for his first movie and he loved it. Now, he has seen the first two movies at hoe on DVD and loves them, so it made it easy. The only issue is that we started potty training 2 weeks ago and he had to use the potty 4 times in 2 hours....fun fun....2 weeks and he is already into checking out the bathrooms at every place we go....Honestly I will be so happy to get rid of diapers, but do not look forward to checking out every bathroom from here to other side of the world....lol...oh well, Igot off topic, so for us 2 1/2 was a good age.

 

[tigger51276]

We took our 2 1/2 year old to see it for his first movie and he loved it. Now, he has seen the first two movies at hoe on DVD and loves them, so it made it easy. The only issue is that we started potty training 2 weeks ago and he had to use the potty 4 times in 2 hours....fun fun....2 weeks and he is already into checking out the bathrooms at every place we go....Honestly I will be so happy to get rid of diapers, but do not look forward to checking out every bathroom from here to other side of the world....lol...oh well, Igot off topic, so for us 2 1/2 was a good age.

Some bad news for you...the checking out the bathroom thing doesn't end any time soon...my DD who is almost 7 still has to check out bathrooms everywhere we go!

 

[JenM]

We took my 2-1/2 year-old nephew yesterday for his very first movie and he LOVED it. He loves the first two Toy Story movies, and when he saw Woody (his favorite) and Buzz on the big screen he got so excited he was almost jumping up and down.

I saw the movie on Friday to make sure it would be OK for him (and because I wanted to see it!) and all of the scenes I was nervous he might get scared by, he was fine. He was even laughing at some of them.

But it depends on the kid, I think. There are definitely some intense scenes, especially towards the end, so if that kind of stuff bothers your kids, you might want to be careful. The adult stuff probably goes over most of their heads, but if they're sensitive, you might want to be careful too, because it's definitely a tearjerker (but happy!) ending.

 

[Figment1990]

I think you may have convinced me to try this with my DS2 (28 months). He really loves Toy Story, and has watched SO many pixar/disney movies and has a pretty good attention span for this sort of thing. For whomever asked about Monsters Inc, my DS has been watching it since he was 1 and although he is a bit scared of the first part and the part when Mike is in the chair with Randall, he's pretty good through the rest of it. Boo is just so lovable and so is Sully that he really likes them. He isn't a huge fan of the scene after Bruce in Nemo (I can't remember what happens either, cause we skip it), but otherwise, is good with that movie. Right now though, the Beast scares him in B&TB, but we talk about why the beast is like that and what's going on, etc. I realized the other day through this conversation that the Beast is a prince turned Beast and Naveen is a prince turned Frog. LOL! (DS is NOT afraid of the "bad guy" scenes in Princess and the frog either, I thought for sure he would be.) For some reason though, he does NOT like it when the cars run Mack (Lightening's trailer truck - name???) off the road in Cars.

I was worried a little about the size of the screen, but he has absolutely NO problem with the screens at any Disney attractions (like Philharmagic). My niece's first movie was UP, when she was 5 and she was scared of the size. Any experiences there with you?

Since it's probably going to be such a popular movie this summer, I'll hold off a bit and keep it as a rainy day option. Right now, all he wants to do is go in the pool!

He hasn't seen TS2 all the way through yet. Maybe that will be our family movie this weekend.... DH hasn't seen it either - LOL!

 

[Minnesota!]

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.

I don't censor what my kids read/see/hear. If they are scared..we talk about it.

We haven't gone to see TS3 yet...simply b/c we have been too busy (camping this weekend). DS has a birthday tomorrow and i was thinking of seeing if he is up to going tomorrow night. Depends on how much CEC wipes him out

Right now my boys are addicted to Monsters, Inc and Monsters Vs Aliens. Ages 3 and almost 6

 

[MoonFaerie]

See, to me that is a completely different situation. Obviously it is a phase he is gong through, and you are dealing with it, not hiding from it. My problem is with the parents I saee who shield their children from anything potentially upsetting rather than discussing/dealing with them. Because you are meeting it head on and dealing with what is upsetting him, this to shall likely pass. There are children in DD's class who have been so sheltered that they had no idea how to deal with the death of a butterfly in their butterfly garden. They we totally shattered, and there were angry phone calls from parents because the children were told that the butterfly had died!! what else was the teacher supposed to do when they came in from recess and found it? Lie to the kids? These are the kids I worry about, not kids like your DS.

Thanks. I know this is one of those situations that has be a bit easily bothered. Now that ds is getting older, plus the fact that he's a boy, we get quite a bit of crap from people about how sensitive he is. The whole quit being a baby and man up nonsense. Add in the fact that this fall will be his first year in public school and it makes me a bit anxious sometimes.

While I'm not a fan of censorship, I do find myself limiting the movies he gets to watch right now. Def. nothing scary close to bedtime!

I've also found myself, not lying at all, but not always giving all the information. DS noticed that my mom's cat was missing, and he asked her about it. Even knowing how sensitive he's been lately, she decided to tell him, "The cat got sick, and we had to kill her." Dude! I had a really bad headache a couple of days ago, and I asked the kids to be a little quieter since I didn't feel good. DS started crying and told me he didn't want grandma to kill me. If she'd just said the cat died, he'd have been ok. A little upset, but nothing he couldn't understand.