I've been questioning movie ratings in my head lately. I took the Ninja to see Ironman a while back, which is a great movie. But I don't think I would've taken him if I'd known they were going to show military Humvees getting blown away and bloody bodies of soldiers…that's a bit much for an 8 year to see.

The two 'Dark Knight' Batman movies are rated PG-13. I think if my Ninja saw the first one, with the Scarecrow, he would never sleep again. I haven't seen the second one yet, but everything seems to indicate that Heath Ledger's Joker is a mass-murdering terrorist who delights in spreading fear in Gotham...

PG-13 is such a broad category there days…Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was rated  PG-13…I'm not entirely sure why…fire ants? Aliens? Women with latent dominatrix tendencies?

They seem to base the PG-13 rating on some abstract notion of how 'intense' the movie is, which doesn't reallt seem like the best gauge.

The first 3 Indiana Jones movies were PG. But times have changed and people are willing to take younger kids to PG-13 movies now. Maybe too willing. I've been a bit dismayed at the toys coming out in conjunction with The Dark Knight, toys for little kids. I saw a Joker in the store the other day, clearly modeled on Heath Ledger's character and no prior incarnation, that said it was for ages 3 and up. 3 and up?

The Mummy movies were all rated PG-13. It seems hard to put mass-murderers and war horrors in the same category as 'mummy comes back to life, bringing the plagues of Egypt. It would seem like the level of realism or the 'scary stuff' would dictate a different rating.

Back in the 80s, movies like St. Elmo's Fire and Class got R ratings. Now it takes something like American Pie to get an R rating. I'd categorize St. Elmo's Fire and Class as more along the lines of What Happens in Vegas, which earned a PG-13 rating. The R rating, it seems, has become the kiss of death, and more and more film makers are assuring the get into the PG-13 category.

At 14, I saw my first R movie in Hot Springs with Sibling and a cousin (walked right in, nobody asked for ID). It was White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov. I can't imagine it getting an R these days.

Of course I can't imagine going to see it these days.

I don't think it ever made anybody's list of top movies.

I just get a little annoyed when they make happy meal toys and action figures for kids in kindergarten that are tied to PG-13 movies. MAYBE they shouldn't be seeing those…

Of course, these days a G rating is also a kiss of death. It signifies something as so bland and sappy that it couldn't possibly be worth watching.

But it is deliberate, marketing PG-13 movies to 6 year olds. That way you can get the adult audience and the teen audience for the action flick, AND get the kiddy market. AND make bucks off tie-in toys.

I read that High School Musical has really been marketed toward the Pre-K crowd, that there are legions of 4 year olds singing 'Fabulous', even though the motives and plot-lines are completely lost on them.

Side note: I thought it was hilarious that Ninja saw Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull with a dozen 7 year olds, and every one of them seemed to deliberately tune out the parts about Indiana having a grown son he never knew about.

I have to say, the Ninja and I are looking forward to seeing the new Journey to the Center of the Earth, and I think it's great that they made another Mummy movies, but instead of going the cheap/ripoff route, brought back Brendan Fraiser AND recruited Jet Li.

I'm a sucker for a good action movie. I saw Gladiator in the theater the night before I went into labor with the Ninja. I had been on bedrest for 6 weeks, but just couldn't take it anymore. My two friends told me if I went into labor during the movie, I was just going to have to call a cab because they weren't about to walk out of Gladiator.