Would "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" be okay for a 6 and an 8 year old?

that movie gave me nightmares when I was 6. with the heart still beating and all… damn I thought that was cool.

I think that perhaps for the 8 year old it might be okay, but not the 6 year old. But if one can’t go without the other then perhaps wait a couple more years. I watched all of them when I was young- I don’t remember how young but The Temple of Doom was my least favourite. ABoyNamedBoobs is right, the heart being ripped out of the chest and all that scary stuff… my cousin is 5 years old and I can’t imagine I would let him watch it in the next couple of years.

As far as I can remember the other two might be more appropriate. I’m not sure if there’s any real scary stuff in the Raiders of the Lost Ark, just lots of snakes. Oh, and at the end there are some creepy ghost things which I remember freaked me out a little bit when I was young. The Last Crusade has always been my favourite by far, and it never really scared me at all that I can remember, oh except for when someone goes from a young man to a skeleton in a few seconds with a bit of melting of flesh, but if you want I can tell you what leads up to that bit and you can cover their eyes? I think that The Last Crusade would probably be the most appropriate out of the three of them.

I suggest watching the movie yourself first. Note what you might want to protect your kids from seeing.

Then just be ready with the Fast-Forward/Chapter Skip.

I doubt any of the more graphic scenes really add to the storyline in a meaningful way, but if you must skip over a crucial plot point, you can explain it verbally and leave out the gross part.

I think there are a lot of scary things in the Indiana Jones movies. The bad guys melting at the end of the first one scared the dickens out of me and I was about 25. I think you have to know the sensibilities of the individual kids but I would probably wait to at least 10 for most kids.

@robmandu‘s idea is a good one too. I think when I showed The Lost Ark to my kids (forget what age), I did turn it off before the melting part.

the guy guy pulls the still beating heart out of a man, I remember that for sure.

Between the ripping out of a guys heart and the bug scenes and the monkey brains, you can expect a kid to have nightmares.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the melting flesh in the Raiders of the Lost Ark too, just before the ghosts come out, right? ...hmm the producers obviously liked their melting flesh special effects haha…

I know of a little boy who has to watch that movie like once a day, and he was only maybe 4 at the time! I can’t imagine letting my 6 year old watch it, possibly my 8 year old though.

I would think it would be harmless for them to watch!

Alright, well, think two boys (6 and 8). What do you all suggest? They loved Goonies. They love adventure-type movies.

What about The National Treasure movies? With Nicolas Cage. No language that I can remember and very little in the way of violence! Maybe “Sahara” with Matthew McConaughey. Not too sure about that one!

I think there are a lot of adventure-type movies that would be better suited to a 6 and 8 year old than the Indiana Jones movies. My boys are 4 and 5 and would love to watch them (for some reason those movies are marketed on kids’ channels and kids’ cereal boxes). I wouldn’t let my kids watch them for many of the scenes listed above.

Faces melting, fist-fights, the guy who gets chopped up by the airplain blades, shootings, the guy who drinks from the wrong chalice and turns to a dusty skeleton…it’s been a while since I’ve watched any of them, but those are some that come to mind. I believe there are some sexual references in some of them—don’t Indy and his father have a thing going with that blonde? That might go right over the boys’ heads though.

I’d suggest you watch them, as others have mentioned. You know your kids best, if they won’t be bothered by those scenes, you aren’t bothered by your boys watching those scenes, or you think you can skip parts, it’s your call. My boys did recently watch parts of Jurassic Park and loved it.

How about “Escape to Witch Mountain”, “Tuck Everlasting”, “Jumanji”, “The Incredible Journey”, “Milo and Otis” and, if they like animated movies “Bolt” and “Up.” I’ve also heard “Coraline” is very good and kind of scary but appropriate for kids; haven’t seen it myself.

I remember liking “The Last Starfighter”, “Cloak and Dagger”, “Flight of the Navigator” and “War Games” but I’m not sure about which age I was.

Also depends on the kids. I know a twelve year old who doesn’t like anything scary and another twelve year old who don’t like movies with a lot of bad language.

@jmah I saw this movie around age 6 or 7 and it’s one of the few movies that I regret seeing, because it was way too scary (and haunted me for a while). I wouldn’t necessarily say this about all Indiana Jones movies, but for Temple of Doom, I can say, unequivocally, don’t show it to your boys.

Seriously, it’s just too freaky for kids that age.

If you spare them this movie maybe my suffering will have had a purpose. :)

Yeah, I think it’s a bit much for a 6 year old. My son loves action movies, he is 6; however, that one is a bit much for him. The heart, the monkey brains…too much.

No—I think it’s too scary for a 6–8 year old. Of course, it depends on what the kids may have seen before this but the last ⅓ or ¼ is pretty gory/scary.

I saw it when I was 10, and yeah some of it was scary or actually disgusting (isn’t that the one where they start by eating monkey brains?). All the cockroaches too. I made the mistake of allowing my 3-y-old to watch LotR with me and she spent most of the time hiding behind my back once the Orcs appeared.

It all depends on the kids of course, and in the long run they’ll see everything sooner or later, so don’t worry about it too much. But they do seem a tad young. Maybe once they hit 9 or 10.

We ended up going with “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. They’ve only seen it about 20 times. :)

Sounds perfect! (At least you know they like it!)