Saturday, September 6, 2008

Kids-in-Mind Web Site

I've just recently found a very helpful site for determining which current release movies are really not appropriate for kids of varying ages. You may already know it.

It's called Kids in Mind, and goes into great detail on various aspects of new films: violence and gore, substance use, sexuality and nudity. Check out their feedback on Disaster Movie, it's excruciatingly detailed -- but you don't have to read it all, you can get the basic idea in seconds: not for kids!

You can also just glance at the rating number assigned to the film; that's based on how many objectionable or inappropriate moments the film contains. The higher the number, the hotter the content. For instance, Disaster Movie has a 7.8.5 rating, and Swing Vote has a much friendlier 1.2.5 rating. Here's the reason this site is so helpful: both movies are rated PG-13!


BTW, I saw Swing Vote, and saw it with a friend who has the exact opposite political leanings as I (that's what happens when you leave San Francisco! You broaden your social circle horizons!), and we both laughed a lot, and probably thought, at least for a second or two, "Hmmm. That's a good point about my side that's not particularly positive..."). It was a darn good movie for a regular old Hollywood vehicle, starring Kevin Costner, and is thought-provoking for kids and adults alike. It's definitely appropriate for slightly older kids, maybe 11 or 12 and up.

I've just added Kids in Mind to my list (at right) of film sites that I use, and I'll soon be adding a list of cool and useful parenting sites to that column as well.

lll

If you're new here, welcome to KidsFlix, where we hope to give you the tools and knowledge to allow your kids to be intellectually stimulated AND entertained by the big black box in your house!

6 comments:

  1. Great site! Makes me wish I had little ones again! But then, we could all be young at heart, right?

    Cheryl

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  2. I think you've confused Dennis Quaid with Kevin Costner. Understandable. They're really more similiar than, say, Dennis Quaid and Randy Quaid.

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. Wow, how did I confuse Costner and Quaid? That's really weird.

    Thanks for pointing that out to me, I'm going to fix the copy....

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  5. Thanks for the site tip. My 5 year old is just getting into full length movies that are not animated (Homeward Bound, Beethoven etc). I am looking forward to watching the movies of my youth with her (E.T., Star Wars (the real ones) etc) but it's hard to know when the right time/age. This site will help!


    http://braintwinkey.blogspot.com

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  6. BrainTwinkey, you mentioned "E.T." ... I have to tell you I was very surprised when we watched this with K at age 10, and there was some language that I didn't expect (one kid calls another "penis breath," for one thing), and even some themes (delinquent behavior like kids smoking, slightly exual discussions) that I'd completely forgotten about. Sometimes movies from the '70s and '80s surprise me now. We also watched "The Bodyguard" when K was 11, just this year, as both D and I had fond memories of it. That movie is definitely for OLDER KIDS!

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