Should you take your kids to this?

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2004)

You've landed here looking for what I was looking for and didn't find, a non-judgmental review by a conscientious parent that is detailed enough to contribute to your decision on whether or not you should bring your young child to see this film.
Naturally, you're interested because this is the first PG film Pixar has released and so you don't have a gauge. Maybe like me, you love all Pixar films. Have you seen Iron Giant? It was written by the same guy who wrote and directed "The Incredibles," Brad Bird. If you haven't seen it, it's also a great film and has a lot in common with this film, though the subject matter of this film is more mature than Iron Giant (Iron Giant was, ironically, about the issues around solving problems with violence. Incredibles is mostly about mid-life crisis).
Here's my credentials: I have two kids ages 4 1/2 and 1. I am a strict disciplinarian but I don't have any set of religious morals I am trying to get my kid to espouse. I believe that violence begets more violence and is not a means to an end nor is it a way to solve problems. I also realize that kids are under social pressure to watch certain TV shows and movies in order to be considered cool and that sometimes I'm going to have to relax and just let my kid be a kid and satisfy his curiosity.
Enough with the background: Incredibles is a movie with characters most kids would love. But it is laden with mature content: violence, domestic squabbling, office politics, and subtle humor that left my child repeating "What are you guys laughing about?" You won't be able to explain the complexities of the humor to your child in the movie house and by the time you're done with the movie, your child will have likely forgotten what he/she was asking about.
The shooting and fighting abounds, though there is no death. There is more shooting and fighting per minute in this film than in Pokemon or Power Rangers. For some reason though, we parents seem to be more forgiving of comedies than of action/adventure, perhaps because the point of action/adventure is the fighting and comedies at least are about something else besides the fighting. Some young children might be scared, though my 2 (nearly 3) year old nephew saw this and had no problems and he's afraid of monsters hiding under his bed.
I took my 4 year old to see this and I wish I had waited until this came out on DVD to show it to him so that I could explain whenever he got confused. He was very caught up in the tension of the movie and was often so concerned about the fate of the characters that he would ask "What's going to happen to so-and-so?" I'd simply whisper, "I don't know. Be quiet and watch to find out." But it didn't do any damage as far as I can tell and now whenever I want my son to do something quickly I pretend to be Mr Incredible and get him to pretend to be Dash, the young kid superhero in the movie who has superpowers akin to The Flash. It works like a charm. And now that he's seen it already, we're going again because it really is a great movie.