Opinion: What parents should know before taking kids to Avengers: Infinity War
With the release of the much anticipated Marvel cinematic universe masterpiece Avengers: Infinity War, directors Anthony and Joe Russo posted an open letter to fans: "If you truly want to avoid any spoilers until you see the film, we recommend you abstain from any social media, or the internet in general, until you have an opportunity to get to the theatre,” they wrote with the hashtag “#ThanosDemandsYourSilence.”
Here’s the thing though. As a mother, I sort of need to know what I’m dealing with before forking out a small fortune to see it in a cinema with my own Marvel mini-tribe.
If you want a truly spoiler-free experience, stop reading now.
Without ruining it for the accompanying adult, here’s what I can tell you: It’s rated M—mostly for the action violence— but it’s a parental judgment call as to how young is too young to see it. It’s long, 2 hours 40 minutes. The violence level is in the same ballpark as Avengers: Age of Ultron, the latest Star Wars movies or any other Marvel cannon so that’s a personal choice of what’s fine for your family. From the jump, the body count is high, but there’s little blood. Swearing is minimal and there’s a romantic kiss between two characters.
Here’s my main advice though (spoilers— sort of— ahead!)
Just remember that this film is just the beginning of the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we’ve known it. It’s part one of a two-part story. So where I can usually lean across and whisper “don’t worry, it’ll be fine” and mostly mean it, in this case fans, even the littlest ones, will have to wait a whole year before they can rest assured that all will be well in the world. If you have a sensitive superhero fan, keep that in mind and at least warn them ahead of time that the ultimate good guy triumph is still coming— and not until May 2019.
For the WHO Review, check out the magazine on sale May 3.
