Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion slightly OT: Narnia movies for my 5yo

DS5 is finishing up the Narnia book series. He is begging to see the movies, but has had very little exposure to any scary or violent movies up to this point. However, since he knows the plot and knows exactly what will happen, I am considering it. Has anyone seen these films recently? Any thoughts? He has not been bothered by the books, though at times they are rather dark and upsetting. I should note that while he is far less sensitive to sadness and violence than his sister, he IS frightened of monsters and things of that sort at night sometimes. This page says 9...I am thinking that's more for kids who have not read the books...http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-chronicles-of-narnia-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe

Ooooooooooo-- the first movie-- please prescreen. VERY scary 'chase' sequences.

we had this question re: Harry Potter and our DD (then 4) - and i do think the multiple pre-readings really helped her. also, the fact that we were safely at home was working for us; contrary to being in a theatre, she knew we could stop at any time. ultimately it all went very smoothly - she literally didn't break a sweat across the 8 films. she wept bitter tears when Sirius died, but Gary Oldman... hee - what can i say, the kid has taste!

but that said, i'll second HK (as usual!) on the pre-screening... it's so easy to be surprised - and it also helps prep you for things that are handled differently than the books.

I agree with the others that it is best to pre-screen. You know your kid best and what will be scary for him. My now 9yo kid was OK with all the Indiana Jones movies before kindy.... but he was not sensitive at all at the time. Now he is a little more sensitive to certain shows that seem realistic or extra creepy (such good technology these days). For example, he took a break from watching Doctor Who after seeing The Empty Child ("Are you my mummy?") -- too scary.

This assignment is difficult for me. I am sooo not a rewatcher! For sake of comparison, though, I would never let him watch the Harry POtter movies, which we have been screening with DD9. WAY too scary for him. I was assuming this was milder and far less supernaturally creepy.

I have the Narnia series on VHS. I purchased them years before our son was even a "twinkle in Daddy's eye" because I loved the books when I was a child.

Perhaps you could look for the series-produced by BBC in 1990-on ebay. They may be less graphic than the modern version.

A bit on the "scary" side, possibly. Here's an excerpt:

Our DS was afraid to watch the movie Home Alone when he was your son's age. He's matured a lot in one year.

You're giving me flashbacks to reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to DD6 (she could read, but not at that level yet). I carefully engineered it so that Aslan's death occurred on a Saturday afternoon, not at bedtime. I was right; there was an epic storm. She clearly couldn't understand why I was insisting on continuing to read while her world was falling down around her ears, either. But [spoiler alert] she was very happy a few pages later when we got to his resurrection.

She's better about bad stuff happening in books, now. But her 5-year-old brother is definitely not ready yet. (We had to stop watching The Lorax partway through with him because it was too scary.)

The newer ones are way "spiced up" with chase scenes, spooky animals, etc. Id judge (with vague memory) at least as scary as Harry Potter. The second one has a whole awful failed battle added in, right? The old miniseries or ancient cartoon might be better. That said, we watched just the first with DD, probably when she was five, as she enjoyed the first two or so books. But she only gets scared by movies when there's the "waiting for someone to find out/see/discovrr someone/thing". That kind of extreme tension. Chases etc dont scare her. But then again, Tilda freaked her out, lol.

Are you sure it won't completely ruin the books for her?

For him, you mean? He's read all the books, but you mean ruin his ideas/mental conceptions of the books? I don't know. I'm leaning against after this thread. We've moved on to a new series (Moomintrolls--yay!) so maybe he will stop asking all the time.