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Is STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI appropriate for kids? If you’ve read any of my other reviews you’ll most likely know that I’ll follow that question up with another, has your child seen the other STAR WARS films? If they have seen the other films and weren’t scared THE LAST JEDI is no different. Still if you want to err on the side of caution, and if you’d like to see the movie without constant commentary and questions, I highly recommend seeing it without kids first. This is going to be short, I’m not going to spoil anything for you.

Is STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI appropriate for kids?

I think that the film is very age appropriate for ages Kindergarten and up. I personally wouldn’t take my three-year-old to see THE LAST JEDI in the movie theater but I would take both my Kindergartner and definitely my third grader. I’ll be honest, going into the screening I felt apprehensive. I don’t know if it’s because I was afraid of the tone of the film based on the marketing and what I’ve seen from the teasers and trailers but I was anticipating a darker film reminiscent of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. I’m not going to spoil anything for you in this review BUT I will say that if you’re hesitant about taking your child because the film looks dark and heavy don’t let that deter you.

Language

Nothing to worry about here. I don’t remember there being any questionable language at all.

Violence and Gore

If you’ve seen the other STAR WARS films you shouldn’t be surprised here. Explosions, light saber battles, blasters and the like all play a pivotal role in the movie, however, I do not remember seeing any actual blood or shot wounds. No, I take that back, someone had a bloody nose at one point. There were a few decapitations but people were wearing helmets so it wasn’t that disturbing.

Monsters and Aliens

If you’ve seen the trailers then you’ve most likely seen the absolutely adorable little porgs! They steal pretty much every scene that they’re in. I’m anticipating both of my kids wanting a little porg of their own; heck I want one of my own! There’s this really entertaining scene involving Chewbacca and the porgs that kids are going to just love. There are also these crystal-like foxes called “vulptex” on one of the planets. The animatronics and CGI on them is so awesome and the sound they make when they move is fabulous. Entertainment Weekly did an awesome story on how they were made. Read it here.

There’s nothing scary as far as aliens or monsters go in this film. Supreme Leader Snoke, whom we do get to see up close and personal, is not a pretty fella at all. I can see that that might be a little upsetting to kids. I was terrified of Darth Sidious when I was a child. He was CREEPY looking!

Adult Themes

There are no signs of public displays of affection or any real love story in this film. No need to worry if you’re cautious about this aspect of any movie when it comes to your kids. Okay to be honest, there might be one kiss but if you ask me, it was hardly what I would call a kiss.

Overall Thoughts:

I loved this movie so much; like so, so, so much. The running time is two hours and 32 minutes and there are no optimal bathroom breaks. If you do need to go to the bathroom I think the perfect time would be earlier in the film when Rey is on the island with Luke. What I really appreciated was the background that we got on what exactly happened with Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker, there’s also a lot of focus on The Force – what it is and how it works. That part may go over your kid’s head but you’ll definitely appreciate it. There’s also a lot of character development going on with Kylo Ren and I found myself kind of liking the guy and rooting for him. We get to see Luke a lot! It was nice to see an aging Luke Skywalker. Carrie Fisher, who famously plays Leia Organa, used to be princess and now general of the resistance, is in the film and the cast and crew have said that the film is dedicated to her memory since she passed away suddenly last December. It’s a beautiful tribute to her and her presence is definitely missed in the present-time.

The sets were beautiful and so real. I loved the casino planet, Canto Bight, it was beautiful and I think it holds a lot more than what we saw. It seems important to the story, especially going forward.

The salt planet, Crait, is also so pretty. I love the red dirt that’s on the planet and I’m sure you’ve seen it in the trailers.

There are so many twists and turns. I foolishly went into the screening feeling like I knew what was going to happen. I was completely wrong. The film is fun, adventurous, bittersweet, butt-clenching intense in some scenes, and worthy of the STAR WARS title. See it as soon as you can, I don’t know how long you’ll be able to go spoiler free on this one.

Just for fun watch the Facebook live that my friend, Alexis Thompson, from myTalk and Lex and the Cities, and I did after we saw the film!

 

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STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI opens in theatres everywhere December 15th!