The Matrix (R, 1999)

Though this movie is pretty dated, the special effects are top notch. I was actually very surprised I was watching something that wasn't just made! There is quite a lot of violence, and it was particularly gruesome when the bug crawled in the protaganists belly button, but other than that, this movie should have been rated PG-13, because I have seen many PG-13 movies that are worse than this R one.

It's impossible to talk about the Matrix and kids without discussing the violence portrayed in this film. This film depicts martial-arts fighting scenes, point blank shooting and machine-gun volleys of destruction with a vividness that cannot be down-played. My wife and I are in a heated debate about whether or not this film is appropriate our oldest of three children. My 12 year old is growing up in a culture that provide 12 year-olds with a near limitless connectivity to the big, big world of the Internet. There are very few parents that have adequate technical skills to fully monitor / constrain access to the Internet from an averagely adept 12 year old. Personally - I'd rather pick my battles (no pun intended) and be there for my kid as he's growing up. Waiting until he's 17 and just about to head out the door… I don't think so. I happen to be a science fiction fan. Over the years, I've found a lot of joy in some of the wonderful stories, messages and mind-bending philosophies that are the hallmark of great science fiction. The Matrix is one of the works of science fiction that captures a lot of the greatness from different works across the genre: like a "highlight real". At the centerpiece of this film are characters that are filled with goodness, human self-doubt and in the end, a heroic commitment towards positive goals. In the review under the "Families Can Talk About" section above - the reviewer does a nice recap of some of those classic science fiction themes that find their way into The Matrix. Based on where my son is, I believe that this is going to lead to a lot of great discussions between the the two of us. I do not believe that the graphic violence will be part of those discussions. If you follow the plot of the film, the violence in this film occurs in a computer generated virtual-reality - not to "real" people. If this concept is too much to understand for your child, then I wouldn't recommend the film at this time. My feelings on this front are greatly influenced by the fact that my son is an extremely kind and thoughtful person - even more so when considering his age. I think this film offers more common ground for the two of us to engage than it will be a bad influence on his development. I don't know if I'm going to get agreement from my wife for another 5 years, but I do know I look forward to sharing it with my kid - whenever that happens and do hope that it's not too far in the future.

Now a cult film, the Matrix bent minds upon its release in many new and unpleasant ways. This movie is great in how it makes us question what reality truly is and how the future of our industrial world will play out if we aren't careful (think 'The Terminator' taken up a notch, and with more style). Can be a liitle scary and disturbing, though. Be careful with younger kids. If they can take the heat, definitely worth multiple watches.

The Matrix is completely awesome. It is not very difficult to understand and on the edge of R and PG-13. There are some gunfights and fistfights, but there isnt really any gore, only some blood. S--t, g--d-mn, h-ll, and a-- is really the worst it gets. They are not even used a lot. I was surprised when there were NO f-words. Overall, this movie was epicly awesome. It was about as violent as the "Dark Knight", was easier to understand than "Inception", and had less language than "Hancock", all of which were PG-13. So I suggest this movie to 11+.

Suggested MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some language.

Violence- 9/10 Sexual Content- 2.5/10 Language- 3/10 Overall Quality- 8.5/10

When I first saw the matrixI was twelve, and I fell in love with the entire trilogy. The violence isn't too bad. Sure there's blood but the more violent parts are brief. It's nothing a pre-teen can't handle. It's fantastic with special effects and cool action, not to mention that the plot is great. Personally I think that the R-rating is a bit shaky. While the language is a bit heavy I have seen lower rated movies that have worse language. It would be rated more accurately as a heavy PG-13. All in all I enjoyed it, a definite buy.

tame by today's comparison. i originally saw this when i was 8 and i was fine with it. the violence has almost no blood, unless its a close up. aside from that its an incredible thrill ride that is very smart and a classic.

This movie has action for those action fans out there but it also has what most action movies don't have a deep message. This movie makes you ponder life diferently and think about the world and what it is becoming. At the end of the movie don't think about the amazing action sequences, think about what this movie is telling you.