5 PG Movies Kids Should Never Watch
Finding a great movie to keep your little ones entertained is hard. Between increasingly shorter attention spans and the rise of YouTube, making sure something captures their imagination is no mean feat.
When you start throwing into the mix the problem of picking a film that’s actually age-appropriate, things get even more complicated – especially when you consider that the PG rating we rely on so often was far less strict in previous decades. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom changed the game in 1984.
That Steven Spielberg hit was so intense for younger audiences that the US PG-13 rating was created, and the rest is history. Still, before those rules changed, some pretty wild movies were given the PG rating. Find out what they are below, plus two others that managed to arguably slip through the net in the years following, too.
Having been released in 1967, a year before the MPAA rating system was introduced, The Graduate didn’t actually receive an official rating until ten years later. Incredibly, when the decision was finally made, the Mike Nichols romantic drama was handed a mild PG. Considering this is a story about a young man who is seduced into a sexual relationship by an older woman, that’s pretty shocking by today’s standards.
Admittedly, there are no explicit sex scenes in the movie, but there is brief nudity and a whole host of sexually-charged language, as well as the odd bit of blasphemy, too. While The Graduate is a fantastic film, combining clever comedy, a killer soundtrack, and a tremendous breakthrough performance from Dustin Hoffman, I certainly wouldn’t be showing it to my kids before they became teenagers, at least. Still, the film was eventually upgraded to a 12A in the UK, which feels about right.
From the sexually sordid to the downright terrifying, Jaws was somehow given a PG rating when it first hit the big screen back in 1975. Surely anyone could see that was a mistake from the first few moments of the film: As that poor girl swims in the sea at night, gets thrown from side to side by the malignant beast underwater and washes up on the shore, it’s clear this is not going to be a fun, breezy trip to the beach for anyone.
Everyone should see Jaws as soon as it’s actually age-appropriate to, which, based on my experience of watching it with my daughter, would be around 13 years old. She absolutely loved it, and now even suggests we rewatch it at least once a month. And it’s so good that I never say no! Not only is Jaws quite horrifying at times, especially when kids are attacked, but it’s also quite a nuanced and surprisingly sophisticated story that demands a more mature mind to truly appreciate it. Thankfully, the movie was re-evaluated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in 2021 and upgraded to a 12A.
Forget killer sharks, there is nothing that will traumatise children more than Watership Down. I remember watching this as a kid; I must have been around eight years old, and I was absolutely petrified for weeks. It may be an animated movie about rabbits on the surface, but in reality, it’s a brutal tale of animalistic survival with crazy levels of graphic violence that make it pure nightmare fuel. Once you see those feral, bloody-faced, wild-eyed bunnies, you’ll never get that image out of your head.
Even more shocking is that Watership Down was only recently upgraded to a PG rating from its original U rating. If you think your children are ready for a gritty, hard-hitting lesson in the savage nature of the animal kingdom, then go for it, but I’d recommend films like Isle of Dogs or even Animal Farm instead; both of those options have an important message behind them, without scaring the life out of your young ones.
Even after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom made Hollywood think twice about the way it rated movies, films like When the Wind Blows were still deemed suitable for a PG rating. This is another animated movie that is more than a little deceptive, with the charming hand-drawn visuals and endearing characters lulling audiences into a false sense of security.
What’s really at play here is a bleak story of an elderly couple trying (and, spoilers, failing) to survive a nuclear apocalypse. It left viewers mortified back in 1986, and When the Wind Blows has found a new audience in the modern era after trending on TikTok. Not only is this film grim and depressing, but it’s also just too heavy and serious to ever be considered suitable entertainment for younger viewers. Truth be told, I don’t even think I would ever watch it again; I prefer my Raymond Briggs stories to be quaint and cute, like The Snowman.
What is it with animated rabbits getting PG ratings they don’t deserve? If blood-curdling bunnies weren’t enough to put you off, how about a cartoon critter who’s constantly making sexual jokes and ends up crushing his nemesis with a steamroller? Yes, I’m talking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which remains a PG movie to this day, despite its unsavoury undertones.
Admittedly, I love this film and always have. The good thing about Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is that kids could watch it and not understand the crude humour. Sure, when they get older, they’ll clock on to the adult appeal of Jessica Rabbit, but they’ll forgive you, I’m sure. However, it’s the evil Judge Doom who might be more of a problem. A sinister bad guy who will have smaller viewers cowering throughout, by the end of the film, as his skin is melted off by his own wicked concoction of paint thinner, acetone, and turpentine, I’d be very surprised if your children aren’t screaming in horror. A much safer option for this kind of vibe would be Space Jam; nothing bad ever happens when Bugs Bunny is around (excusing his cameo from WFRR?)!
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