I recently learned my lesson about checking what’s in a movie before letting my son watch it.
It never occurred to me that the movie Happy Feet was a PG movie. I thought it was a cute little movie about a dancing penguin.
We were about 20 minutes into the movie when I became concerned about some of the language. Now, they weren’t swear words, but words like butt and stupid are not words I find appropriate for a toddler, preschooler or even a elementary aged child.
A few minutes later there was the frightening chase scene where a nasty looking predator was after the penguins and more ugly words were said. Needless to say the predator scene made my son cry. So I turned it off. It was then that I realized it was a PG movie! I mean, who makes a PG cartoon???
So I logged on the Common Sense Media to see what others said about it. I determined that it and A Bee Movie which is another one we have that we haven’t watched are both movies we will be removing from movie collection.
My feelings about the inappropriateness of Spongebob Squarepants were also validated during my visit to Common Sense Media.
The site tells you what age they think certain shows and movies (and video games) are appropriate for. Now, I did find that my views were a bit more conservative but the site gives you enough information to make your own decision on whether you agree or disagree with the age that they’ve picked.
After the Happy Feet incident, I will now check all our viewing choices out ahead of time!
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