Parents are warning other parents not to allow their younger children to watch the latest Guardians of the Galaxy movie. So far, it's getting a lot of backlash online for how inappropriate it is for younger audiences, which is a problem when the earlier movies in the series got kids hooked. Warning: There are spoilers for the movie ahead!
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A concerned parent took to Reddit to share what he'd seen on screen.
The third installment of the Marvel space odyssey apparently includes some very graphic clips from Rocket Racoon's backstory, prompting one dad to warn fellow parents against taking their impressionable kids to see the flick.
The dad said the movie "depicts many animals, cute animals, getting graphically tortured and killed," adding that it was "really, really violent."
In fact, it was "Like horror movie violent," he wrote.
He wants parents who normally go to these types of movies to know what to expect.
"If you have a young kid who usually goes to superhero movies with you, I recommend you screen it yourself before you bring them," his post continued.
Several people commented words of thanks, mentioning how they had been planning to bring their kids because they saw the first two.
"My youngest was scared of Drax and finally got over it in 2," one person wrote in part. "That actually sounds terrifying for her as she loves little animals. I appreciate the warning."
So much of the plot sounds upsetting — for children *and* adults.
"A huge part of the movie's plot is about cute animals getting tortured and mutilated," a concerned father wrote in an essay for Fatherly. "It's almost like David Cronenberg took over a camp Marvel movie, and not really in a good way."
The worried papa noted that viewers not only get to see the backstory of what happened to Rocket while he was held captive but also an adorable bunny get violently tortured and mutilated.
Yikes!
There were also complaints about how the movie, which is rated PG-13, was marketed.
The father pointed out that they wouldn't have been too worried about the flick having more grown up content except for the fact that the film was specifically aimed toward children.
All you have to do is head to the McDonald's drive-through and you'll see just how much Guardians has been wooing the younger demographic. Right now, Happy Meals even feature the characters, both on the box and as the toys being sent home as prizes.
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Parents at least deserve to know what to expect when taking little ones to a movie.
We understand why dads are sounding the alarm about the content of the film. Especially when the first two movies were so kid friendly, this seems like a hard turn in a new direction that parents may not be expecting.
At least with this information, parents and caregivers are given an opportunity to decide whether this might be too much for their little ones.
