Hmmm...my 6 year old is in therapy, and we spend a lot of effort on getting him to name emotions, recognize and control feelings like anger, disappointment, etc.
Anyone seen it who is a therapist or has a child in therapy? I'm wondering if it could be a helpful inlet into those discussions -- to anthropomorphize the emotions so it's easier to think about not letting anger or frustration take over the controls, or how to help your happy feelings and humor take back over...

Do you think this movie appeals to one gender more than the other? My 11-year-old son, who has loved the "boy" Pixar movies in the past, doesn't seem interested. Yes, I know he's growing up.... but I still think he'd like it if I made him go with me.

?? Was thumbs up. Don't know why that changed

Took my 10 and 11 yo kids. Both really enjoyed it! Maybe they are the ideal ages as they both understood the story and we had a great conversation afterwards. I enjoyed it as well. It gets 2 ?? from our family.

With the exception of the first 15 minutes (which is like an extended version of the trailer), my five year old alternated between crying and looking bored. She loves going to the movies and had no problems in Monsters U, Home, Penguins of Madagascar and Big Hero 6. But this one was really hard for her to sit through, which is disappointing considering that she nagged me about this movie and "June 19th" every day since April.

It was a great movie for adults and older kids, but it's not for little ones. The whole thing plays like a drama with small (and I do mean small) bits of humor here and there.

As an adult, I think it's one of their best films. It gives you a lot to think about and it's highly relatable, but for small kids it's kinda depressing.

My child had been waiting to see this movie and at points he wanted to leave. It was scary and very sad for most of the movie. My child was hiding towards the end of the movie. Very disappointing. Not at all like the previews.

FWIW, Commonsense media recommends for 6 and up (though parents reviewing it on the site say 8 and up).

Anonymous wrote:Took my 3 year old. Way way way over his head. I don't know how anyone younger than an adult would really get it, honestly.

Well, kids understand things gradually, rather than all at once when they turn 18.

DH and I loved it. 4yo DC's attention was held throughout. Everybody wins!

Anonymous wrote:I took an 11 year old and a 7 yo and we all liked it, but it is abstract - it gave us some stuff to talk about afterward, but it wasn't a "story" movie. My friend took her 5/6 yo who didn't get it. I would not take anyone under 6 - there were little kids in the theater who were antsy and bored.

It has a story. My kids got it. I don't understand comments like this...?

I took an 11 year old and a 7 yo and we all liked it, but it is abstract - it gave us some stuff to talk about afterward, but it wasn't a "story" movie. My friend took her 5/6 yo who didn't get it. I would not take anyone under 6 - there were little kids in the theater who were antsy and bored.

I loved it so much, I cried twice. Way over my five year old's head, but she enjoyed the goofy characters and general plot line. We are about to move overseas so this reminded me of how hard transitions are for adults and kids.

The review in the Washington Post was glowing.

Haven't seen it yet, but I'm glad that Pixar is doing original stuff instead of sequels.

Agree with many of the comments here. Took my 7 and 5 year old who followed the basic story but did not follow the real meaning and message in the movie. My experience with kids is limited to the ages of my own - not sure at what age kids will get it (and the "it" was lovely, really), but it's a lot older than mine.