I have just taken my family to see Paddington and wanted to comment on the PG rating it has been given.
On Film 2014 this week there was an interview with one of the team behind the film (not sure if it was the Producer) and it was said that he could not believe it had not been given a U rating and that there was nothing in the film anyone would find distressing.
Well as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating - my little boy did find it scary. I think the PG rating and the reason given by the BBFC are spot on.
sorry meant to put this in the more general Film & TV section - can a moderator please move it. Thanks.
I think he meant there was nothing in the quantifiable and observable content of the film that would merit a PG, like a cuss word or an exposed willy. Individual kids can find different things scary - my sister's bairns were shitting it during the bridge bit in the 1980s Annie remake, and apparently the woman getting turned into a robot in Superman 3 has long been acknowledged as nightmare fuel.
Can't see the fuss doing the film's promotion any harm if they play it right, but a PG can warn off some parents.
I'd like to find whoever it was who decided at some point in the last 30 years that it was wrong to scare kids... and punch the living shit out of them.
Cheers
Jim
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2014, 10:23:41 PM
I'd like to find whoever it was who decided at some point in the last 30 years that it was wrong to scare kids... and punch the living shit out of them.
Cheers
Jim
As a parent, I would like to say: ^^^this.
And yet both Jaws and Jurrasic Park were rated PG and Paddington is positively tame by comparison!
It's a ridiculous decision by the BBFC.
The 'A' rating (IIRC) was slightly different to to the PG, but close enough, so... if you're going to moan about the decapitations in the Hobbit movies, or Paddington being a wee bit scary, may I just say: FUCKING JAWS. Severed head. Severed limbs. Bob Shaw FUCKING EATEN ALIVE ON SCREEN.
Bah.
Jim
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2014, 11:18:54 PM
Severed head. Severed limbs. Bob Shaw FUCKING EATEN ALIVE ON SCREEN.
These words are pleasing to me.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2014, 10:23:41 PM
I'd like to find whoever it was who decided at some point in the last 30 years that it was wrong to scare kids... and punch the living shit out of them.
Punching kids is often wrong.
Quote from: Fungus on 01 December, 2014, 01:39:33 AM
Punching kids is often wrong.
Political correctness gone mad!
Cheers
Jim
The ratings system is used only as a guideline in my house. If I think my kids (7 and 10) can handle a 12 rated film (Scott Pilgrim) or even a 15 (both Hellboy films), I'll let them watch it.
They were both terrified by Jaws though and I had to turn it off.
I took them to see Paddington on Sunday and there was nothing in there that I would think warranted a PG rating.
Quote from: TordelBack on 01 December, 2014, 12:29:00 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2014, 11:18:54 PM
Severed head. Severed limbs. Bob Shaw FUCKING EATEN ALIVE ON SCREEN.
These words are pleasing to me.
Jaws is a classic. Bob Shaw getting mauled by a shark is one reason why.
QuoteI'd like to find whoever it was who decided at some point in the last 30 years that it was wrong to scare kids... and punch the living shit out of them.
Could not agree more to be honest. I just
do not understand this whole theory of trying to wrap kids in cotton wool and protect them from anything remotely scary, challenging or disturbing.
QuoteThe ratings system is used only as a guideline in my house. If I think my kids (7 and 10) can handle a 12 rated film (Scott Pilgrim) or even a 15 (both Hellboy films), I'll let them watch it.
They were both terrified by Jaws though and I had to turn it off.
I took them to see Paddington on Sunday and there was nothing in there that I would think warranted a PG rating.
Speaking as a non-parent, this seems like exactly the right approach to me. In my own experience, though certain films upset me as a kid*, by the age of 12/13 not much could faze me and I was about ready for anything.
*Which comes back to my theory that kids are pretty much self-regulating anyway - Stephen King's
IT, which I saw around the age of 8 or 9, terrified me so much that I didn't go
near another horror film for several years afterwards. I learned my lesson.
Quote from: Richmond Clements on 30 November, 2014, 10:26:28 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2014, 10:23:41 PM
I'd like to find whoever it was who decided at some point in the last 30 years that it was wrong to scare kids... and punch the living shit out of them.
Cheers
Jim
As a parent, I would like to say: ^^^this.
I'm with you both on this.
It's entirely random anyway. One friend said his kids have watched all sorts, but one was recently properly freaked out, by all things, due to a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode.
Still, it's something I'll learn in time, although mini-IP is currently only five months old and already well-versed in design shows, Doctor Who and QI.
Weren't the original Star Wars films given a U certificate?
They contain:
Severed bloody limbs
Smoking holes in bodies
Burnt skeletal human remains
Monsters eating folk
Monsters trying to drown folk
Falls from a great height
People dying horribly in exploding spaceships
Burning teddy bears
Etc etc
Paddington should embrace class consciousness;lead the masses to victory over the Bourgeoisie state and then succumb to Power becoming a Stalinist grotesque exterminating everyone in an orgy of death lust. Finally he dies alone raving at the futility of existence. Oh the humanity!
(http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag453/philtemp/royston_paddington_film_cartoon_zps04d4a736.jpg)
(nicked from Private Eye)
I went to see this with my girlfriend, we both enjoyed it. Packed screening & only one child (who was annoying running about at the end), it was a really good enjoyable fun film. Rating wise, I've an open mind. A really good, must see film!
Quote from: Magnetica on 30 November, 2014, 06:24:18 PM
Well as they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating - my little boy did find it scary.
How old's your son, Magnetica?
I'm thinking of taking the family to see this, although the idea of someone wanting to capture (and kill?) Paddington does sound rather removed from kind of things that happen in the books.
It did feel a little....off. But honestly I think you would struggle to capture the imagination of a wider audience if you stuck to the book 100%. I saw it on Christmas Eve and I rather enjoyed it.
Dash, my son will be 5 in a couple of weeks. I think the point is different children react differently - my three year old daughter had no problem with it all.
And indeed my son can watch other films which would think have more things in them that he might find scary but he is fine with them.
I think the reason was that he has really bought into Paddington as a character and did want to see him come to harm, where as with other more "cartoony" stuff that isn't the case.
The main point I was trying to make was that an adult isn't necessarily the best judge of what a small child might or might not find scary - the best judge of that is a small child, or really a group of small children.
I don't want to put you off taking your family to this as it is generally fine, it is just that boy did find it scary.
Did NOT want to see him come to harm I mean.
:lol:
I just noticed Bear's Avatar Picture.
Baffled at all the fuss tbh. Saw the movie over Christmas and didn't see anything even
remotely risque or scary. PG seems downright harsh if you ask me.
Also caught a bit of Raiders on telly (also, IIRC, rated PG) and there's a bit in that where a bloke gets shot right in the fucking face at close range.
QuoteI think the reason was that he has really bought into Paddington as a character and did want to see him come to harm, where as with other more "cartoony" stuff that isn't the case.
I think that may be a large part of it. So much of kids entertainment is just cynical garbage - we had to sit through about 5 trailers for kids films before Paddington and they all looked absolutely insufferable, whereas I'd personally rate Paddington on a par with Pixar's stuff which tends to have more of an emotional punch.