Ah, the age old dilemma of parenting. You want to watch Star Wars with your kids, but you’re not sure if they are old enough yet. You don’t want to scare/traumatize them with all those scenes of exploding planets, dead stormtroopers, and crispy fried aunts and uncles, but you’ve got to get to them before they hear 400 people say “Luke, I am your father,” and figure out the big twist. And you also want them to get it. You want them to be old enough to know and appreciate what is going on. Because, and you have to face this fact, the movie is quite old. Sure, it holds up very well, but it does not move at the frenetic pace of today’s action movies. Some scenes including actual sitting and talking, and a few of those scenes go on for up to, or longer than, one minute.
Now, Ruby is in kindergarten, so all of the boys in her class are always taking about Star Wars, but they are generally not talking about the classic film from 1977. They are referencing the Clone Wars cartoon, which is specifically made for the children of today, so that’s not the same thing. I wonder how many of them have actually seen the original movie. Probably some.
I did some research, both anecdotal and internetal, and found some precedents. I have to expose my bias up front however. My goal was really not to find the proper age for children to watch Star Wars. My goal was to find enough examples of kids watching it that were 5 or under, so I could watch it with Ruby. And I found some compelling evidence to support my cause. Have you all seen that viral video where the kid is watching the big reveal that I cited earlier? That kid is 4, and he seemed totally into it. Also, one of our neighbors’ kids is 4 and has also seen it. Good enough for me! The answer is…..4! And Ruby is 5. Game on.
I do need to stress that all kids are not created equal, and you should know your own kid and what they are like before you do anything stupid. For instance, I happen to know that Ruby is way more scared of movies in the theaters than she is at home. Movies that have terrified her in the theaters include: Brave, Tangled, and the middle section of Wreck-It Ralph. Movies that we have watched at home with no problems include: The Neverending Story, Atlantis, and The Dark Crystal. So I felt pretty good about the low scare factor.
We watched it, and she loved it. She wants to see the next one. And the next one. Her favorite parts were “the parts with the robots,” and she laughed hysterically for at least a minute over the line “Someone move that walking carpet.” In fact, she called Chewbacca “The walking carpet” for the rest of the film. She wasn’t even paying attention when Alderaan blew up; she was fiddling with her shoelace. When I asked if she saw what had happened, and didn’t she see the whole planet explode, she didn’t seem very concerned about it. Overall, I would say that the experience was a good one, and I will leave you with her best quotes about it. But now my question is: Empire is a lot darker… How old should your children be before you show them Empire?!
Ruby: “Why is Luke sad?”
Me: “Because they killed his aunt and uncle and burned his house down.”
Ruby: “You mean they burned his house UP. He lives underground, silly.”
Ruby: “It’s a good thing they got out of that dump truck.”
Ruby: “Where is Dark Vader going? He doesn’t have a home. He lives in a giant spaceship that blows up planets.”
Ruby: “Han Solo and Luke Skywalker look exactly the same, so I can’t tell which is which.”