How Do Movies Get Rated?

Last weekend, Rachid and I took the boys to see The Spiderwick Chronicles.



Had I seen the preview, it would have been clear to me that my boys were nowhere near the mental age to be able to handle this movie. I just saw the "PG" rating and figured that it was one of those fairytale movies that my boys love so much.

Half way through the movie, I realized that Pucker was frozen solid in his seat next to me. His eyes were filled with tear, and when I asked him if he was okay, he gave me a slight nod that forced his tear to overflow down his cheeks. We thought of leaving the movie right then, but they both wanted to finish it (of course!), and we also thought that it might actually be better for them to see the ending instead of imagining something crazy on their own. It turned out though that less would have been more in this case. As soon as the movie ended, Jay whispered to us, "Can we sleep in your room tonight?"

It was actually a very entertaining movie--the ending had a great twist, and Freddie Highmore did an excellent job. Although there were some flaws in the plot, it had a great mix of drama, action, humor, and horror. Now that I think about it, maybe a little too much horror...