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Yesterday I took the older kids to see Monsters University. We got tickets to an advanced screening – excuse me, screaming – of the movie thanks to my wife’s friend.

When my wife called me and asked if I wanted to take the kids to see the movie, my first response was to check the usual review sites to see the appropriate age range and if there is any objectionable material.

The sites I like to check are Common Sense Media and Kids in Mind. Those two sites give reviews that are helpful to concerned parents. But… they review movies after they are out. Since this was June 18th and Monsters University doesn’t open until June 21st, all I got from one site was the synopsis provided by Pixar (and nothing from the other site).

So I had to go off movie critic reviews.

Those were not helpful. Mostly they lamented that, although not a bad movie, MU just didn’t live up to the expectations of previous Pixar releases. They gave the storyline and some other tidbits, but none of them told me the things I cared about:

• how scary are the monsters in this movie?
• any inappropriate material?
• it’s set at a college, so how is the frat party handled?

I’ll try to fill in those blanks so that parents who are wondering those things can have their answers for opening weekend.

The monsters (and settings) are slightly scarier than Monsters, Inc., and I did not see any inappropriate material.

My 9-year-old was eager to go and liked everything in the movie. My 7-year-old was not as eager to go, but he said he liked the movie. I was glad I did not take my 4-year-old, because it would have been too scary for him.

I’d recommend a minimum age of 6. That’s based on my family – your mileage may vary.
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