Should you let your kids watch ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’?

Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and over-achieving baby sitters — it’s a three-day weekend, and the weather’s getting warmer, which is often the perfect formula for a movie date with the kids.

This weekend, when you ask those wide-eyed lovables which film they’d like to see, they’re going to answer you with, “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” And you know what? They’re instincts serve them well. It’s a pretty great film.

As far as 2014 goes, “The Lego Movie” and “X-Men” have been the big surprises for me, so let me just give the show a big thumbs up before you ask the inevitable, and especially responsible, question: “Is it right for kids?”

And for that, let me go ahead and break this down by category.

But before I do, remember, if you want a complete break down of the movie, and you want to know about each and every naughty word and manly backside shot, spend a few minutes and check out kids-in-mind.

If, on the other hand, you want to know what the average moviegoer believes is the age appropriateness for this title, check out OK.com after opening weekend.

But if you’re still here reading because you don’t want spoilers and you can’t really wait until Monday, then read on, my responsible friend. I’m your third best option.

Sexiness

If you blushed at the category heading, this movie is not for the kids in your life. In fact, you probably want to stay away from this movie as well.

There is nudity, partial nudity and suggested nudity. I’m pretty sure I just coined “suggested nudity,” so this article is already a big win.

On top of the nakedness you’ll see, there’s also the classic waking-up-next-to-a-stranger scene, which includes one of the shots mentioned above, and I believe there are a few comments about what happened the night before.

Violence

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I heard audience members gasping during some of the death scenes in this movie. I’m not saying who dies, or if those who die are even central characters, so hopefully I didn’t just spoil the movie for you.

If I haven’t, and you’re still reading, let me go one step further and warn you that people die in some pretty brutal ways throughout this story. These aren’t cut-away deaths, either, but to be fair, in most cases they’re obviously CG (computer graphic) depictions.

For those who live, a lot of them are still shot or stabbed or otherwise wounded, and you’ll witness every moment of it.

Potty-mouths

I admit, I didn’t bring a pen and paper with me to count how many times each expletive was uttered. I can tell you, however, I don’t remember a lot of language, but I believe each of the regular offenses are represented, including the one supposedly you’re only allowed to say four times in a PG-13 movie.

Themes in general

You know how some movies are relatively clean, but they deal with really heavy topics you’re not necessarily ready to discuss with your kids? “Days of Future Past” is fairly tame when it comes to said themes, but it does deal with war while also suggesting the future of the world could be bleak.

Speaking from personal experience, I have three kids who wouldn’t think twice about the presented scenarios, and then one child who would lay awake at night worrying about everyone she loves. If you have a worrier among you, this could be a movie to hold off on until you see it for yourself.

Conclusion

To be honest, I’m a little surprised this movie escaped an R rating. With the director pushing lines in every MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) category, you might get a bit annoyed wondering how this movie is deemed appropriate for 13-year-olds while movies like “The King’s Speech” are only appropriate for those 17 and above.

That said, if I were running the world, I’d give this movie a PG-15+ with some sort of disclaimer about how subjective my opinion is and how you as a parent know what’s best for your child.

Travis Poppleton has been covering movie news, film reviews and live events for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010 and co-hosts the FlicksJunkies podcast. You can contact Travis at tspoppleton@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @tspoppleton.