I've told this story before on this website, but my dad took me to see the very R-rated Terminator 2: Judgment Day when I was only 8 years old.
Now, while I will say that it was a truly transformative experience - the opening scene alone was definitely the most mind-blowing thing I had ever seen in my entire life up to that point - my dad instantly regretted taking me the moment they started dropping F-bomb after F-bomb.
So, with that in mind, I didn't want to make the same mistake as my dad. That’s why when I heard that Godzilla Minus Zero was rated R, I made sure to watch it first BEFORE I took my 9-year-old son. After watching it (it was amazing, by the way), I decided that it was indeed okay to take him. Here's why.
Oh, and some spoilers up ahead.
First Of All, There Is No Nudity Or Even Bad Words In The Movie, But...
My son is no stranger to bad words. We don't say them in our household, but the kids at his school curse all the time (and my son likely does, too, when he's with his friends. That's what I did when I was his age, anyway). That said, I don't really want him to see an R-rated movie with lots of swearing, since I know people can be quite creative with HOW they curse in movies. Granted, I wasn't particularly worried about cursing in a Godzilla movie (especially since there were subtitles), but I wanted to be on the safe side.
Well, I can report that there are NO bad words in this movie. In fact, the dialogue is no worse than it was in Godzilla Minus One, which I took my then 6-year-old son to see when it first came out. So, the next thing I worry about in an R-rated film is nudity or sexual content. Now, I wasn't TOO concerned that there would be any nudity in a Godzilla movie, but again, I didn't understand WHY this movie had to be rated R.
Well, again, I can report that there is nothing to worry about in this regard, either, as there is no nudity or sexual content whatsoever. In fact, the only time there was anything questionable was BEFORE the movie, as there were two red band trailers in my showing - one for a movie called Karōshi, and another for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the latter of which had a few F-bombs in it. So, that was something I prepared my son for when I saw the movie a second time and took him with me. The trailers!
The Violence Is Also Pretty Tame, But There Were Two Scenes That Were A Bit Concerning
Now, here's the thing about violence when it comes to my son - I'm not too worried about it as long as it's FANTASY violence. For example, my son has been playing T for Teen games ever since he was five, with his first T-rated game being Shadow of the Colossus. Since then, he's played several other T-rated games, and I've never been upset with them because they're not realistic.
Mind you, I've been a Mortal Kombat megafan since 1992, so I only thought it fair to allow my son to play video games with moderate amounts of violence. So, when I saw Godzilla Minus Zero for the first time, I thought the violence was okay for my son. In fact, it’s rather tame in comparison to something like Bloodborne, which is an M-rated game that my son is currently playing.
VERY MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
There are two scenes in the movie that I was slightly worried about, though. One involves a family burnt to a crisp by an atomic bomb, and another scene involves Godzilla literally being ripped to pieces by King Ghidorah. Besides those two scenes, I honestly don't see why this movie is rated R in the first place. That's why I had no problem taking my son to see Godzilla Minus Zero. Besides, for a first-time R-rated film, it definitely could have been worse. I mean, it could have been Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
