Minimum admission requirements

I should be reviewing Zodiac right now, and I'd like to, but I feel compelled to make a little public service announcement before hand.

If you are a parent, know a parent, or know a kid, this one's for you. Okay, listen up: Stop taking your kids to movies. Specifically, stop taking your 12 year olds to movies that are rated R/18A. Take them to other movies, movies that are rated G or PG or PG-13. If you kid is 13 and really wants to see a 14A movie, and you think it's alright to accompany them, I guess that's okay. But think about what you are doing. Look up the rating. When you see that it's R, visit a site like Kids in Mind to figure out why. Is it strong language? Violence? Drug and alcohol use? Sexual content? Think about what you are exposing them to.

I get that all kids are different, and maybe you have a really mature one on your hands. Even so, think it through. Adults older than I were walking out of Pan's Labyrinth in horror. Imagine mine when I saw the number of parents who had brought their young children in with them. In front of me last night at Zodiac, which, I don't mind telling you, is a movie about a serial killer? A girl who wasn't more than 14. She was reading an Archie comic when we walked in. What her mother was thinking is beyond me.

Now, I'm not in favour of censorship. I am, however, in favour of responsible parenting. If your daughter begs you to see a movie because, I don't know, Jake Gyllenhaal is super fine, look into the movie before you give her $10. Spend $10 yourself if you must. Wait for the DVD and vet it that way. Do whatever you have to prevent her from watching a couple be gruesomely stabbed to death. Growing up in this world is enough of a shock. Don't add to it.