The Paddington Bear Film Is Rated PG Because Of Sexual Innuendo - He’s a very naughty bear.
Paddington Bear film given PG rating - British Board of Film Classification says innuendo and infrequent mild bad language meant movie did not get a U rating
nvm
This rating, which could potentially damage its box office by preventing five-year-olds from going to see a film aimed at five-year-olds, seems to be predicated on the belief that the UK is still stuck in 1935.
At least one Doper has reported that the film is “scary!” and “Not a kid’s movie.”
Do five year olds in the UK not see PG rated movies? I mean, other than the ones with bizarrely overprotective parents.
Of course, back in the 80’s they’d sometimes add swears to kids movies just to get a PG. Transformers, for example.
Of course they do. Same as everywhere else that uses a similar rating system, the “G” of “PG” just means “Guidance”.
They do, but PG suggests it’s aimed at older than 5yrs, and more like tween age, which is not really Paddington age.
Really the UK is pretty liberal about this kind of thing, they thumb their nose at that sort of authority, but still, it does seem a misguided decision.
Huh, as an ignorant American who’d never heard of Paddington Bear until I started seeing those horrible (to me) teasers in the theater, teasers that made me declare that I’d rather ram red hot pokers in my ears than see the movie, but then when I heard about and was intrigued by the amazing cast list featuring some of my favorite British actors, and then started reading people I trust on Twitter saying they liked it, and then went to discount night at a local theater intending to see Still Alice and American Sniper but who was so emotionally drained from Still Alice that I couldn’t imagine following it up with a movie all about death and destruction so checked to see what else was playing and finding that Paddington was starting in 10 minutes and said, what the hell, so went to see it and except for the same horrible scene that was in the teaser thought it was very sweet and lovely, I liked it.
Joe Bobbi sez, if you never heard of Paddingtion and think you can check your world-weary cynicism and nit-picking (“Bears can’t talk! Geeze what a load of bullshit!”) at the door, and want some sweet, gentle fun while being delighted by a series of recognizable (even if not by name) faces, check it out.
Well, I took my five-year-old to see it, and he loved it. As yet, any trauma is either absent or carefully repressed. (Well, we are British.)
That said, I think the decision to add the killer taxidermist plot was a little strange. Paddington is basically a fish out of water story: he has dreams of London, arrives to find it’s not as he imagined, gradually adapts and learns that it can be wonderful after all. The Browns’ lives are disrupted, become chaotic and reform for the better around the new entrant. The taxidermy plot allows these things to happen but it could all have been achieved without anything quite so gothic. Given that the message of the film is quite clearly pro-immigration, I’m almost surprised that the villains were not The Authorities, trying to throw him out the country for not following regulations. It would fit in much better with the ethos of the movie.
That said, the brilliant visual gag re. the heads mounted on the taxidermists’ wall pretty much justifies the whole character.
Then I guess it doesn’t “potentially damage its box office” after all.
Regardless of what they stand for officially PG really means “all ages” in practice. Whereas G (or the local equivalent) is “kids only, you adults are gonna be hella bored”, so if anything, a PG will help the box office.