My call for an exception was to those making remarks that there is nothing at all to be concerned about in bringing a four year old to the movie (I did not express this clearly, I was a bit rushed). Of course being a parent is not automatically a guarantee of good judgement, nor is not having children a guarantee of the reverse (I've been a teacher for 20 years--at one time or another I've taught every grade from Jr. Kindergarten to undergrads and I only had children after moving to the older end of the teaching spectrum). My point was that I believe there is a very high correlation in this thread between lacking any concern and not having children.
This correlation might actually be real beyond this thread. There is a segment in society that feels a great deal of contempt for "breading" as they call it and all that "spawns" from it. Naturally, they are childless so this might lead to a generalised bias amongst those who have no children if taken as a collated group.
To be clear, I think parents have the right to decide what their kids can watch and I intensely dislike having decisions like that made for me. However, the OP asked for an opinion and I believe, in this case, being a parent allows one, in the aggregate, to have a more informed opinion than not being a parent. Based on that, I made my recommendation (against going to the theatre, and for the DVD option, if the parent deemed the film suitable at all). I stand by those points. The appropriateness of the content is (and should be) the parent's decision. The venue where the content is viewed, however, needs to take more points into account and common sense strongly suggests a home viewing environment for this film for someone so young is FAR more preferable than the cinema.
This is not really a question about the parent's right to decide. That right is quite firmly in place and I couldn't imagine a differeny system short from totalitarianism. This, of course, does not preclude the possibilty that such a right, if exercised with poor judgement, can cause harm or distress to a child who is being decided upon. Often I have had the impression that parents can be quite selfish, mostly unknowingly, deciding their kid should do one thing or another, when this was in the parent's best interest and not the child's. Please note, I'm not insinuating that this applies to the OP or anybody else here specifically. Its just that some parents do not realise that these two are often quite disparat, i.e. with regard to who'se interest is being served. It's not always easy to take the perspective of children, but it needs to be done if one wants to be fair to them.
In my experience, when children realise you take them seriously in this way and begin to understand what they really want and feel etc. they get very friendly and obliging with you. In educational and mental health settings (which are quite different from parent-child relationships of course, but still), this is how I have managed to deal with very defiant children who had severe behavioural difficulties. It takes time and doens't work like a magic trick, but once you have this understanding the relationship gets much easier (although, this does not eliminate their problems, it only changes how they deal with you, to get beyond this can require therapy). However, the point is that this appraoch is noticed and has quite an impact. And I would argue that parent's who try to see things through their children's eyes get on with them better.
It's certainly not my intention to lecture you or any one and I hope what I have written does not come across in this way. It is also probably clear by now, that I'm not a parent yet and have mainly had experience in professional environments which are a different kettle of fish. I'm just trying to make the point that even with little things like watching action movies aimed at adults, the chance that a small child will get enjoyment from it might be far less than one would consider for oneself as a grown-up. So one should ask oneself, why do I want to watch this movie with my young kid? Just because it's Star Trek and I would like to have a Star Trek family experience? Or perhaps one is watching action films with one's 4-year-old all the time? For most it will be the former and then why have your child watch such an age inappropriate film? To them the concept of Star Trek will be fairly meaningless and I am not sure that the family-togetherness during the event will be what they remember the most.
) If one wants total silence you'll have to wait for the DVD and put it on the headphones -
