Should you take your young kid to see Revenge of the Sith? ATTN: SPOILERS

[teedubya]

I found this on theForce.net

Parent's Guide to Revenge of the Sith - Updated!

Posted By Scott on May 6, 2005

In 1984, I remember being a kid and desperately wanting to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The only problem was that my parents heard the movie was very graphic and that a dude’s heart was pulled out of his chest in one scene. Despite their reservations, they ended up taking me anyway and making us hide our eyes during the scene. It was certainly a memorable experience for me. It also started the PG-13 rating. Now 21 years later, I find the tables turned on me by George Lucas. I’m the parent of a young child dying to see Revenge of the Sith, but I have some worries that it might be too much for him.

In fact, many parents have asked me if I think Revenge of the Sith is appropriate for their children. My standard answer is that it depends on the kid. I took two 5 year olds to Lilo and Stitch a while back. My daughter loved it, but her friend absolutely freaked out and had to be carried out of the theater screaming. So it depends a lot on the kid. So rather than telling you to take your kids or not, I’m going to list everything that I think could potentially freak a kid out and let you decide for yourself.

Note that spoilers will follow in next post. Highlight to read:

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[teedubya]

Highlight with mouse to read.

1. The Emperor – Make no mistake about it, the Emperor is awful scary in this movie. When he first turns wrinkled, his voice changes to an evil tone and he has yellow eyes and no hood. He’s on the screen for several long moments looking awfully creepy. This could scare a kid. But if your kid has seen Return of the Jedi, it might not be so bad for them.

2. Anakin kills the Younglings – When Anakin arrives at the Temple to kill the Jedi, he walks into the Jedi Council chamber. Hiding behind the chairs is a number of 6 or 7 year old children. They see Anakin, and a boy comes out from hiding and says something like, “There’s too many of them to fight, Master Anakin. What should we do?” In response, Anakin ignites his lightsaber and the scene cuts away. Much like the slaughter of the Sand People in AOTC, you don’t see anything, but the message gets across that he kills them. Later in the film you see the bodies of several children lying on the ground as Obi-Wan and Yoda survey the damage. The kids have no obvious wounds on them, so they look like they are sleeping. But our hero has killed children in the movie.

3. Anakin chokes Padme – Towards the end of the film, Padme arrives on the volcanic planet of Mustafar to tell Anakin that Obi-Wan is hunting him. Anakin then sees Obi-Wan emerge from hiding on Padme’s ship. Thinking that Padme is yet another in a long line of people to betray him, he flies into a rage. He raises his hand and starts to Force choke Padme. She hangs in the air choking for about 4 seconds, then Anakin releases her and she falls to the ground unconscious. It’s brief and surprisingly understated, but it’s a bit shocking to see spousal abuse in a Star Wars movie.

4. Anakin Burns – Towards the end of the final duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, Obi-Wan catches Anakin in mid-air and cuts off both of his legs and his remaining arm. Anakin falls to the ground and proceeds to slide down an embankment towards lava. As he gets near it, his clothes catch on fire. He burns for a few seconds in full flame and you see his hair and clothes burn away. He’s then left with red eyes and charred flesh. You see it clearly in a couple of close up shots and a couple of far away shots. It’s not shown on the screen more than a few seconds. Later, as Anakin’s being turned into Darth Vader, you see him on an operating table screaming in pain as robots poke and prod him with needles. You see his full charred body in this brief shot. (My son has an intense fear of fire right now, so this would obviously terrify him.) I think the burning scene alone is what gave this film the PG-13 rating.

5. Padme delivers the twins and dies – After the final duel, Obi-Wan takes Padme to a medical center. Droids report that she’s physically fine, but that she’s lost the will to live so she’s dying. (Would a pregnant woman as strong as Padme lose the will to live? I doubt it. Anyway….) They must deliver the twins to save them. Padme screams and cries as the children are delivered by a robot. After she names them, she says to Obi-Wan that there’s still good in Anakin, then she dies. It’s not too hard to see that this could unsettle a child, especially one with a pregnant mother.

UPDATE!! - Here are a few more worth mentioning that I forgot about in my initial report:

6. Dooku's Decapitation - At the conclusion of the opening battle, Anakin gets the best of Count Dooku. He cuts both of Dooku's hands off and the Sith Lord is shown briefly staring in disbelief at his cauterized stumps. Anakin then takes the two lightsabers and puts them to Dooku's neck. He says, "I shouldn't do this", then scissors the lightsabers to cut Dooku's head off. The actual cut takes place off screen and you see the body fall over and the head briefly rolling off in the background. To be honest, it is less graphic than Jango's decapitation in AOTC. If you let your kids watch those films, this isn't much different.

7. The Death of Mace Windu - Just as Mace Windu prepares to finish off a cowering Palpatine, Anakin steps in and cuts off Mace's arm in a shockingly quick move. Mace stares at the stump in disbelief and is then hit by Force lightning by Palpatine. He starts screaming as electricity courses through him like in Return of the Jedi. It goes on for a few seconds then Mace is violently hurled out a shattered window to fall to his death. It all happens very quickly and in reality there's nothing much in the scene that hasn't been in previous Star Wars films.

That pretty much sums up what I think would freak out a child in Revenge of the Sith. Hopefully you can take this and judge for yourself if your kids are mature enough to see it. I think if you’ve let them watch Attack of the Clones and LOTR: Return of the King, then they’re old enough to handle Revenge of the Sith. I highly recommend you just go screen it yourself first and decide based on that. For me, personally, I’m going to take my young son and daughter, then take them out of the theater or hide their eyes when there’s something I know they’ll think is scary. Out of the entire film, I believe they can handle 97% of what is on the screen.

[Eleazar]

I don't want to see the spoilers, but what is the verdict? Is it not appropriate for kids or something?

[Hammock Parties]

I don't want to see the spoilers, but what is the verdict? Is it not appropriate for kids or something?

PG-13 rating. I wouldn't take anyone under 10 to it.

[chagrin]

I read that one and all the others as well, people have been under that misconception for years (that it's a movie for kids, since Lucas produced that slop known as Return of the Jedi) it became so tame, and fun and happy, etc that parents now believe their kids should see it because of all the furry cun critters. This should be the best movie yet in the saga, and will be violent and contain actual graphic death scenes.

I wouldn't take any child to see this movie

[jspchief]

Funny, Phantom Menace got trashed (deservedly) for being too much of a kids movie. Now this one may be too adult?

[SCTrojan]

Thanks for the info - and a very cool way to present the spoiler info.

I'm not sure I could keep my kids away from it. But then, they're both a bit older, so I'm not too worried.

[chagrin]

Funny, Phantom Menace got trashed (deservedly) for being too much of a kids movie. Now this one may be too adult?


Well yeah, kinda. the thing is, Lucas had to go back and write the first 3 parts so what started out as a space war, warm fuzzy feeling filled movie with 3 parts became so successful, then he realized, shit, how do I justify the transition to Darth and explain Leah and Luke, etc. that transition doesn't happen without alot of violence and treachery.

You can now call me Captain Obvious, thank you

[Eleazar]

Funny, Phantom Menace got trashed (deservedly) for being too much of a kids movie. Now this one may be too adult?

I was thinking that it got trashed for being a god-awful flaming turd.

[jspchief]

I was thinking that it got trashed for being a god-awful flaming turd.You could argue that. But I'd say the things that made it suck were the kiddie things. Take out Jar-Jar Binks (who was clearly the equivalent of of the slapstick sidekick that is a staple of all recent animated films), and take that annoying kid and make him a bit older and less annoying, and that movie instantly improves. It was a lot like the whole Ewok thing in RotJ..you felt like they were trying to jack up toy sales for christmas.

[Eleazar]

You could argue that. But I'd say the things that made it suck were the kiddie things. Take out Jar-Jar Binks (who was clearly the equivalent of of the slapstick sidekick that is a staple of all recent animated films), and take that annoying kid and make him a bit older and less annoying, and that movie instantly improves. It was a lot like the whole Ewok thing in RotJ..you felt like they were trying to jack up toy sales for christmas.

Well, when RofJ came out I was 1 or 2.. so I don't remember the ad campaigns to go along with the merchandise. But seeing it 10-12 years afterward, it didn't seem to me excessively designed to sell toys.

Jar-Jar I saw as just an attempt at comedy that didn't end up being funny. I thought the pod-racing theme was more aimed at merchandising than jar-jar was.

But, I only saw that piece of crap once, the day it came out in the theatres, so my memory could be fading.

[jspchief]

Well, when RofJ came out I was 1 or 2.. so I don't remember the ad campaigns to go along with the merchandise. But seeing it 10-12 years afterward, it didn't seem to me excessively designed to sell toys.

Jar-Jar I saw as just an attempt at comedy that didn't end up being funny. I thought the pod-racing theme was more aimed at merchandising than jar-jar was.

But, I only saw that piece of crap once, the day it came out in the theatres, so my memory could be fading.If you watch it and block out Jar Jar and the annoying kid, it actually is pretty good.

The pod race is a good example. It's a pretty good scene, if you take out that annoying kid and his squeaky voice. It's got awesome sound, good action, great special effects. It's just that damn squeaky kid and the child level humor that turns me off.

What I meant by selling toys was that they seem to be targeting a younger audience now. It was too much of a kids movie, and not enough of a great movie that all ages could enjoy.

[dirk digler]

I am excited about seeing Revenge of the Sith but the last 2 SW movies have sucked ass IMO.

[Duck Dog]

Is 'Sith' just the gay way to say 'Sixth'?

[Deberg_1990]

Jar-Jar I saw as just an attempt at comedy that didn't end up being funny. I thought the pod-racing theme was more aimed at merchandising than jar-jar was.



Lucas had originally envisioned Jar Jar as the Chewbaca of the new trilogy. After the first movie came out and the fans hated Jar Jar, he was forced to rewite and scale back the character in the next 2 films. He was hardly in AoTC and ive heard hes barely in Episode III as well.

[jspchief]

Lucas had originally envisioned Jar Jar as the Chewbaca of the new trilogy. After the first movie came out and the fans hated Jar Jar, he was forced to rewite and scale back the character in the next 2 films. He was hardly in AoTC and ive heard hes barely in Episode III as well.It amazes me that Lucas was that out of touch with what made Chewbacca popular. When was Chewy ever a bumbling idiot? He was like the pet panther you dream of as a kid or something.

Who dreams of having a sidekick that's the equivalent of the "special" kid that always gets boners in swim class?

[4th and Long]

It amazes me that Lucas was that out of touch with what made Chewbacca popular. When was Chewy ever a bumbling idiot? He was like the pet panther you dream of as a kid or something.

Who dreams of having a sidekick that's the equivalent of the "special" kid that always gets boners in swim class?
ROFL ROFL ROFL

[Otter]

took two 5 year olds to Lilo and Stitch a while back. My daughter loved it, but her friend absolutely freaked out and had to be carried out of the theater screaming.

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/20/70/41m.jpg

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL

You would have been tortured to for weeks on end about this in my family growing up:

Dad: What the hell you scared of? He's not even real! Go to your room, one of your brothers will be in to beat you up in a couple minutes.

[Fire Me Boy!]

PG-13 rating. I wouldn't take anyone under 10 to it.
Having seen the film, I would agree with this statement. Not terribly violent, but 10 would be a good benchmark.

[Bowser]

Having seen the film, I would agree with this statement. Not terribly violent, but 10 would be a good benchmark.

Hmm. My 9 year old is pumped up to see this flick. She has watched all the old movies, episodes 1 and 2, and the Clone Wars animated series. The wife is saying I should go see it first to decide if she can handle it, and my daughter is not pleased with that ruling.

There are only two scenes from Ali's list that concerns me. I won't list them, but you can probablly guess what they are.