May I?' and 'The Matrix' Why my kids won't be seeing the latest R-rated blockbuster.

The Wall Street Journal (OpinionJournal) ^ | May 23 | Dale Buss

[Huber]

Sure, when it opened last week, "The Matrix Reloaded" savaged a few box-office records as if they were so many flimsy Agent Smith replicates. But it still couldn't beat out "Spider-Man" for a record three-day opening. And that amounts to a notable failure for this movie, considering that it benefited from more advance hype and fevered anticipation than the invasion of Iraq.

[Huber]

You would think that Hollywood types would realize that they are shooting themselves in the pocket!

[buffyt]

I saw it with my 22 year old son, his fiance, and a friend of theirs. I knew my 52 year old hubby didn't want to see it. I just wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. I didn't care for it. It didn't deserve an R rating. Maybe a PG. You see that much sex and violence on TV now. I liked the chase scene with motorcycle and cars and trucks through what looked like a Los Angeles freeway -- since I used to live in LA. That was cool. The dance scene/mosh pit in the cave with thousands of dancers was different, we enjoyed that, while trying to figure out what it had to do with the rest of the movie. I think they were trying to make it artsy fartsy. Over all, watching the movie was like watching my kids play a video game. I would give it zero out of five stars.

Nothing will ever beat Gone With The Wind and Casa Blanca.

[buffyt]

You can see some pretty steamy love scenes in soap operas on daytime TV. (We don't watch them). We watched Young & Restless ONE time, my daughter and I, back when she was a teenager. Joshua Morrow plays Nick on that show, and his father, Kim, was my boyfriend in Jr. Hi. I ran around with his Aunt Shawn Morrow. We watched to see him. He was in a semi nude love scene. We never watched again. Kim was very handsome like Joshua. He was only my boyfriend for a very short time, but I ran around with Shawn for years.

[dawn53]

We decided against it for our teenage son, as did my sister, with her two teenagers.

They can wait to see it on video or DVD, then we'll fast forward through the sex scene.

They got the Matrix game for the PS2 instead and seem quite contented.

We monitor movies for language too, and use

http://www.screenit.com

to check before allowing them to go.

For at home videos, we have a TV Guardian. If the video is close captioned, the TV Guardian will censor language that is objectionable.

http://www.tvguardian.com/

[buffyt]

The sex scene was not much different from what you would see on day time TV or even sitcoms. It was artsy, more than sexual, as was the whole movie. All in all, the Matrix stinks.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING was a million times better, but will it get any awards??????

[William Terrell]

Looking at it rationally, a baby, any baby, would be welcome when there were only 200,000 humans on the planet. And the way you get babies is. . .

[buffyt]

I find it odd that people allow their kids to watch the violent scenes and not the love scenes..... My husband is like that. Loves violence, car chases, shootings, fights, beatings, war, etc. in movies but hates it if the actors say a four letter word or have a sex/love scene. I think the violent parts of movies, the fight scenes are a lot more harmful to youngsters than the love scene. The characters in Matrix are truly in love, not just humping. It is central to the movie, how much those two characters love each other. They risk their lives to save each other. The love scene was short and more art than sex.

The movie still stinks though

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

This guy gets paid to write stuff like this?

Is Dale really Tipper Gore?

"And that amounts to a notable failure for this movie, considering that it benefited from more advance hype and fevered anticipation than the invasion of Iraq."

WHAT?!

[buffyt]

LOVE your tagline!

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

I didn't care for it. It didn't deserve an R rating. Maybe a PG. You see that much sex and violence on TV now.

Proof that the "boiling frog" theory of moral degredation is working. The opening thirty-minutes was disgusting, repulsive, unnecessary, and reminded me of all the sluts you see prostituting themselves at the dance clubs. What a pathetic waste of my time. Thank goodness the tickets were free. I don't think I'll be seeing the third movie.

The Matrix has benn "socialized".

[Future Snake Eater]

I enjoyed the movie, and I can usually see the reasoning behind most seemingly-gratuitous scenes, but I have now clue what the Wachowskies were thinking with that scene. No clue whatsoever. It was like they were stoned when writing that scene, and the studio suits were probably very hands-off given the first film's success.

[grumple]

Hmm...no mention of the gratuitous comparison of Bush to Hitler here...

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

I think the violent parts of movies, the fight scenes are a lot more harmful to youngsters than the love scene.

So should we take away toy guns, not let kids play army, and generally "feminize" our entire male population into a bunch of pacifist weasels? Violence and the human reaction to threats and survival are basic instincts. The Matrix is all about good vs. evil. It might be difficult for a really young person to understand why the "good" guys are killing seemingless innocent police officers, and I'll give you that point, but if anyone is old enough to follow the plot, they should understand that this is good vs. evil, life vs. death, freedom vs. bondage.....all things I would kill and die for.

Or, you could just toss your son some Ritalin and watch them become another mindless pacifist and anti-war protester.

[BSunday]

Why my kids won't be seeing the latest R-rated blockbuster

Uh...because it's R rated ???

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I have a policy of not going to any "R" rated movie myself, so it's pretty easy to enforce that on my children. Most of the PG-13 movies are also well worth missing. I teach them that "R" means "Raunchy" and "X" means "Extra Raunchy" and that these movies promote adultery. Certainly portraying the hero and heroine in adulterous situations with no adverse consequences is bad. The Bible is pretty clear about not letting an evil thought into your mind.

[poet]

Touche'

Well said!

[rmvh]

Why go to any movie? Why not live life first hand? There is an abundance of wonderful, alternate entertainment sources that don't undrmine America.

Let the anti-American hollywood slimballs living on your ticket purchases get work that doesn't erode human dignity.

[xsmommy]

i have very little problem with my kids watching violent scenes as compared to sex scenes. for one thing, cartoons back from when i was little, showed extreme violence(Bugs Bunny, Popeye etc)to no ill effect. i think it is possible for kids to distinguish reality from excessive violence (not in a vacuum of course, you do have to talk to them about these things as well as the sex stuff), but the extreme sexualization of everything is more problematic.

Yes, you can talk to your kids and indicate that sex is for when you are married, between two loving spouses, but that is NOT what they are going to see anywhere on TV or in real life around them. Sitcoms show sexual scenes in a joking manner, giving the message that sex is no big deal, everyone does it. it trivilizes it. Again, movies and tv trivialize violence as well, but in most kids everyday life, they do not see people carrying on the way they do in Terminator@ or the Matrix etc. But they do see people carrying on the way they do in the sex scenes in movies and on tv.

that is my basis for restricting movies based on sexual content as opposed to violent content.

[dawn53]

Ditto what you said!

I also monitor TV shows for sexual content. At 15 and 16, a teenage boy's having enough problems with raging hormones, why show him "images", be it TV or movies, to add to his frustration.

[IronJack]

Do not see "Reloaded." It is a 2 1/2-hour episode of the old David Carradine Kung Fu show, with Keaneu Reeves as "Grasshopper" and everybody but the janitor as his teachers. Think "Crouching Tiger" with a heavy metal soundtrack. And Carrie-Ann Moss looks like a bag lady.