Wonder Woman Might Be Too Violent for Your Kids

Rating: PG, for mild rude humor throughout.

If your kids are fans of the Captain Underpants books, they will love this movie. They will be laughing hysterically throughout the entire thing, and they’ll be singing its unlikely superhero’s catch phrase – “Tra la laaa!” – as they leave the theater. The good news is, as a parent, you’ll have a blast, too – whether or not you’re familiar with the Captain Underpants extended universe. Director David Soren’s film, written by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek), draws from a few of author Dav Pilkey’s hugely popular books. It introduces best friends George (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch), who spend their days designing comic books and plotting elaborate pranks at their elementary school. But one day they go too far, and they turn their mean principal, Mr. Krupp (Ed Helms), into the comic hero of their dreams: Captain Underpants. Nothing in here is vaguely inappropriate – unless you have a problem with jokes about poop, pee, farts and toilets. And Captain Underpants actually has a valuable message about being kind to people who are friendless or who’ve been bullied. But mostly it’s about potty humor. Fine for all ages.

Rating: PG-13, for thematic material including some violence.

Viewers around 11 or 12 and older should be OK here, even though it’s about pretty grown-up stuff. This weepy religious film is based on a New York Times best seller about a father (Sam Worthington) who goes on a spiritual journey after the tragic loss of his young daughter (Amelie Eve). The little girl is kidnapped and killed during a family camping trip, leaving him bereft and faithless and eroding his relationships with his wife (Radha Mitchell) and two other kids (Megan Charpentier and Gage Munroe). Then one day, a mysterious note in his mailbox leads him back to the scene of the crime – and to an idyllic shack in the woods where he meets God (Octavia Spencer), Jesus (Aviv Alush), and the Holy Spirit (Sumire Matsubara). Thematically alone, this is too much for very young viewers to handle. We see visions of the young girl being carried away, and we witness the father’s pain and remorse. There’s also a scene in which another kid nearly drowns and requires CPR. And at over two hours, the running time alone will make this a tough sit for kids.

Rating: PG-13, for mature thematic content involving drinking, sexuality, bullying, some violent images, and language – all involving teens.

Young teens and older should be fine watching this angsty but well-acted high school drama. Think Groundhog Day meets Heathers. Zoey Deutch stars as a popular high school senior who wakes up the morning after a raging party to find she’s living the previous day all over again. Then it happens the next morning, and the next. And it keeps happening, over and over, regardless of the slight tweaks she makes to jar herself loose from this time loop. In the process, she learns to see her mean-girl friends more clearly and treasure what’s truly important in life. Director Ry Russo-Young’s film features a ton of language and frank talk about sex. Teens also get super drunk at the party Deutch’s character and her friends attend, and they bully an awkward girl who shows up uninvited. And there’s a major car accident that serves as an important plot point, which we see again and again from various perspectives.