I've never been one to believe in censoring for the sake of censoring. A ten-year old may be perfectly capable of watching a PG-13 movie; understanding that its occasional swearing or kissing are parts of the real world; and walking away with a perfectly intact 10-year old psyche. My daughters began reading the Harry Potter series in second and third grade and are quite well-adjusted young women who do not worship Satan and, despite the swimming and talking sperm in Look Who's Talking, they were not corrupted by its implied sexuality. However, the movie did provide an interesting answer to one of childhood's age old questions, "How does the daddy's sperm get to the egg?" "Whoops...whoa...ahhhhh...well, they swim...that's it...they swim!" But, I digress. Censoring usually serves only to make our children more curious to find out what all the fuss is about. There are some movies though that I would never have allowed my children to watch. Legend of the Guardians is one of them.

Follow up:

Despite the pages you can find on-line about the symbolism of the movie and its "supposed anti-Christian" imagery, this has nothing to do with the horror I felt as I watched the movie this weekend. What left me aghast were the parallels I drew over and over again to the dynamics that so often lead children to eventual gang membership. The character of Kludd was heart-breaking. Always jealous of his little brother and constantly vying for his father's attention he succumbs to the lure of a "new" family that will always give him the "respect and love" he wrongly feels he didn't receive from his own parents. This in and of itself is a message I'd never want my elementary aged children to see. But it's Kludd's betrayal of his brother and sister that is the most damaging message of the movie. Children will not be looking for potential cloak and dagger symbolism. They will take away what they see. I shudder to imagine children watching this movie and worrying about the potential betrayal of a sibling or a young person viewing this movie as validation of their own desire to be respected and loved and perhaps succumbing to the lure of the streets. Despite the beautiful illustrations and animation and the wonderful score; this movie is violent. It is scary. Bad strangers kidnapping them is enough for our children to have to worry about. But, no child should ever have to worry that a sibling will harm them.