My boss took his 4 year old niece to see Ratatouille. During the scene where Remy is getting shot at his niece got so scared they had to leave the movie. He also felt that the G rating is probably not right since there some violence for young children. Did anyone else think that this is perhaps not a movie for young children?
Well, first of all, I don’t necessarily think Ratatouille is the kind of movie you should bring 4-year olds to see (or any other children below that age) . You have to be sure they can handle the amount of violence that does come up, because there really isn’t that much of it. My advice is wait a few more years or when your boss thinks she is mature enough to handle the violence.
Honestly, when I first saw the footage of the old lady firing the gun (on one of the podcasts) , I thought that it was going to be a PG movie but for some reason, a G rating seems more appropriate to me.
To me, age can be merely a way that law and ratings adjust situations.
A 4-year-old can either be scared OR excited by the actions scenes and such.
I honestly would think the children would have been more scared of the “dead rats” in the one scene between Remy and his dad. ALTHOUGH in reality the rats were fake (honestly…WOULD you buy rat-disposing supplies from a guy who has something dead in the front window? More or less a health inspector).
It depends on the person, not age, so it’s variable.
This reaction was from a girl who loves Disney Princesses so she is probably a little more timid. I think too that the sound in theaters is so loud it makes things like that more intense…
But I agree that 4 years is a little young for most Disney movies. They’re all pretty dark in places.
Thanks for the input. I was just curious as to what people thought…
So apparently that kid has never watched Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd go at it. Yeah - the movie really could’ve gone either way on the G-PG rating scale, but it certainly was not at the PG level The Incredibles was. I have no respect for people who assume that just because a film is animated and of any rating that every scene is going to automatically be suitable for their child.
Praise to that.
Amen, Dash. And this dates back to forever; remember the Wicked Witch from the Disney classic, Snow White? As comic writers the Berenstains pointed out in their child-raising book, “up close she’s instant nightmares.” I like their recommendation, too: to encourage your kid to bury their face in your chest during the scary parts.
However, that said, I think Ratatouille is more of an adult-oriented movie anyway… I kind of think the ratings scale is pretty coinservative anyway, but bearing in mind that kids see stuff on the evening news every day that’s way more violent than that shooting scene, I think it’s just a case of DBAU7-IDMT (Don’t Bring Anyone Under 7 Into a Darkened Movie Theater) Also known as DBAYP-IDMT (Don’t Bring Anyone Young Enough to Poop their Pants into a Darkened Movie Theater). 
In Australia, Ratatouille got a PG rating, which surprised me because I was expecting it to have a G rating, like in America. The part at the beginning when [spoil]the old lady fired the gun several times[/spoil] isn’t even scary, but it is a bit loud. As for the part with [spoil]the dead rats in the window[/spoil]…
I agree that this movie isn’t really suited to four-year-olds anyway. Mostly due to the fact that it was a bit slow for their tastes during the talking parts, but that reflects more so on the kids’ small attention spans, than the quality of Ratatouille.
The thing I like about Pixar is that they take chances and include sequences and/or adult-related content that either flies over the kids’ heads or is displayed in a very subtle manner. The [spoil]dead rats[/spoil] moment was an exception in this case, but it does add depth to the story, like you said.
– Mitch
I concur, Dash! They need to watch more Looney Tunes. I didnt finding anything about it to be scary, of course, I’m an adult, so maybe I dont count.[spoil]The old lady shooting[/spoil]almost struck me as amusing, since it seemed she just couldnt stop.[spoil] I mean following the colony and trying to still shoot them as they went under the bridge? Does this woman ever stop with her trigger finger???[/spoil] What I think some little kids could find disturbing would be [spoil]the dead rats[/spoil] but you’re kinda looking at it from the rat’s point of view, so I spose it’s supposed to be disturbing. Not enough to scare little kids into therapy though. And yeah, plenty of disney movies have had dark scenes. Hello, Bambi, anyone? And they’ve been rated G
Animation is not just for kids. Some people (like your boss) think that just because it’s animated, that means they can take their kids to see it. That is so wrong, and I agree with you; Ratatouille was not made for young children. Ratatouille should have been rated PG. Oh, well. It was still a great movie. 