The violence, both emotional and physical, made this at least a PG-13 movie

Rating: 5/10 (30 June 2006)

I read the book to my 7 year old daughter and she really liked it. The book does not focus on the violence and she was able to gloss over that and enjoy the magic and adventure of the fantasy world. The movie, however, makes all too explicit the violence implied by the book. So much so that when my daughter's first grade teacher proposed to show the movie to her class, we and several other parents objected (and prevailed). While some children may be able to handle it, parents should not simply assume this movie is o.k. for kids under 10 simply because it is rated PG.
First, the London bombing scene is pretty scary. Lots of flash/boom and tension about whether the characters will be hurt.
Second, the first time Edumnd meets the White witch, the dwarf flies out of the sledge and holds a wicked-looking knife to his throat. It's very unexpected and very threatening.
Third, the death of Aslan is very emotionally violent as hordes of hideous creatures do really nasty things to a beloved character while the little girls in the movie watch without being able to help. Not only is the physical violence of the killing itself potentially disturbing to the young mind, but the emotional violence of cruelty is also hard to take. Any movie that has such a serious killing scene in it should be PG-13. I find it hugely ironic that Prairie Home Companion got a PG-13 rating for "risque humor." The idea that humor is somehow more worthy of parental concern than is cruel violence reflects, to me, a deep confusion of values.
Fourth, the battle scene is pretty scary. Again, the forces of evil are represented by really nasty looking creatures, just waiting to inhabit a small child's nightmares. And the fighting and killing is strong stuff.
These are all the longish parts that are likely to stick in a child's mind. There are also other flashes of horror that could also disturb a young child: the 'death' of Tummus, whose face contorts into an awful expression of pain; the encounter on the ice floe, where the wolf is very scary---heck, my daughter cried during "Piglet's Big Movie" because she imagined the awful things that would happen to the friends IF they fell into the river---and here the ice damn falls and the children plunge into the raging river; the voice of the wolf fighting Peter.
I'm just saying you need to really know your child on this movie, much more than the innocuous "PG" rating would lead you to believe.
Aside from the mis-rating, I found Aslan's character terribly disappointing. The jaw and mouth were way unbelievable for me; it made Asland look too much like Tony the Tiger.