Teri Hatcher on keeping films age-appropriate for Emerson

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher, 42, has a bone to pick with Hollywood — the lack of age-appropriate films for her daughter, Emerson Rose, 9 1/2, to see in the theater.

I am one of those moms who is disgruntled with the film industry.  Every Friday, we think, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to go to the movies?’ But you go down there, and 13 of the 14 films are PG-13 or R. It’s really difficult if you don’t believe in super-speeding up your child’s rearing. I’m an advocate for more PG and G rated movies.

Source: People, October 22nd issue, p. 24

Comments

Lilybett on October 16th, 2007

We have a different classification system in Australia, but I’ve been finding it extremely difficult to find “family” movies that are G or PG. I found a copy of “Field of Dreams” with Kevin Costner and that’s PG (at least here in Australia). Hollywood doesn’t seem to make a lot of movies like that anymore.

Most of the G and PG stuff in the video store is kid or teen oriented, rather than family focused and adult friendly. I don’t mind a good Disney classic, but I get a bit tired of trivial teen flicks that are completely based on looks or love interests. They may be wholesome but I don’t think they’re sending great messages to young people, not the kinds of messages that Kate Winslet was talking about in another post on CBB.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a G or PG movie that won’t rot an adult brain but doesn’t have swearing, boobs or gratuitous violence?

michelle on October 16th, 2007

I know exactly what you mean! They don’t make movies like they used to, that’s for sure! I think its more difficult to find movies that are age appropriate for kids yet still interesting for parents. A few movies that are good for both ages include: Home Alone, Home Alone:Lost in New York, Jumanji, The Sandlot, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, My Dog Skip, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, The Parent Trap, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, It Takes Two, Angels in the Outfield, The Mighty Ducks, and The Indian in the Cupboard. That’s a lot of movies lol but I hope that helps!

Dana on October 16th, 2007

I completely agree about the scarcity of kid’s films. My daughters love movies and love going to the movies, but 98% of the time, I have to tell them that, no, we cannot go because there is nothing appropriate for them.

Lilybett, have you seen Night at the Museum? My kids (6 and 3–my Lily) love this movie. They want to watch it all the time. They also both love movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky.

Kaley on October 16th, 2007

I totally agree with her, there aren’t a lot of movies out there below PG-13. Every weekend my family tries to go out to see a movie but there is nothing that all of us can watch (my dad is 43, I’m 18, my sisters are 15 and almost 11). Both of my sisters can’t watch R movies and my youngest sister can’t watch most of the PG-13 movies that are out in theaters right now. Its really sad.

yaosa on October 16th, 2007

I totally agree with her!

Naughty Cal on October 16th, 2007

Not every PG-13 or R is bad for kids. If I had kids, I would be perfectly fine letting them watch Transformers or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for example. Some of the gorier stuff (i.e. Saw) would be off-limits, but there are some old-school action movies like Bloodsport, Big Trouble in Little China, Best of the Best, The Running Man, Rumble in the Bronx, etc. that older kids can watch, as they may have explosions or martial arts fighting, but not excessive amounts of blood or graphic depictions of death.

Jill on October 17th, 2007

I agree that there aren’t a lot of kid friendly movies showing in theaters these days. However, there aren’t many kid-friendly shows either (like Ms. Hatcher’s own PG-13/R show).

Mary on October 17th, 2007

Having four children, ages 15-3years It is very hard to find movies for them. Just because she is 15 does not mean she is aloud to go out and see a pg13 movie. We love to take the children out to the movie theater. However with some of the content out there We dont see as many movies as we would like. When it comes to pg13 movies to rent or own we like to watch Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, but we do not like movies like Bring it on. There should be a happy medium.

Berjoui on October 17th, 2007

Anyone who has kids knows that you may think it’s okay to let them watch PG-13 movies (R is out of the question) but they most likely will find them scary or not at all entertaining. Also, Ms. Hatcher’s show is not meant for kids which is why it’s on at 9 o’clock at night. There are plenty of kid-friendly shows, a lot more than when we were kids, and several channels dedicated only to kids but when it comes to trying to share the movie experience with your kids there is usually nothing age-appropriate to see and that’s a shame.

DWS on October 17th, 2007

I totally agree that there should be more G and PG movies out there. I don’t understand how the Hollywood execs don’t see how extremely well family movies do when they actually make them. It doesn’t make sense to me. I think they are too busy trying to shock and push the envelope too much nowadays to make quality family movies.

Lilybett on October 17th, 2007

We recently went to see Evan Almighty with Steve Carrell (PG here and very funny)- but we left feeling a little jaded as we had somehow been suckered into an unknown Christian youth mission charity event. Nobody told us when we bought our tickets that we’d also be bombarded with speeches before the show and have people calling out across the cinema to say hi to each other all the way through. I’m all for charity, but not when I’m tricked into it.