When Should I let My Kid Watch.... Beverly Hills Cop - Movie Review

What type of kid where you? Did your parents let you
watch whatever you wanted? Did you sneak around and watch rated R movies as a
kid? If you’re a parent now what do you do? When do you let your kids watch
some of your favorite movies?

This is a new collection of reviews I’m starting with
a twist. I wanted to review some of my favorite movies, but with a different
perspective. As a parent I struggle with when I should let my children watch
and be introduced to certain movies.

Let’s get this out of the way first. This is not me
telling anyone when they should let their kids watch a movie. This is me
discussing what age I should let my children watch certain movies, and giving a
good personal age range as a guide.  I
think there is a fine line of being a cool parent that lets children watch
anything, and being responsible for what they view and trying to put what they
see in some sort of context.  There is a
website called Common Sense Media, and I’ll put link to their website in down
below in the description. The website gives recommended age ratings for movies.
I personally think they are on the conservative side, but every kid is
different and it’s up to the parents to decide when they are ready to handle a
certain movie.

The first movie I decided to review for this
collection is Beverly Hills Cop. I’m trying to get my 11 year old to have the
same passion for movies I do, but sadly I think he is going to take after his
mom, who isn’t a huge movie fan. At first I tried Matrix, then Die Hard, but we
settled on the Eddy Murphy classic

The first thing that jumps at you as a parent is the
strong language in the film. Within the first few minutes we get a profanity
laced exchange between Axel Foley and the criminals he is trying to entrap. This
doesn’t really stop during the course of the entire film. Language is the
primary reason why this movie got an R rating. Introducing my son to the strong
language doesn’t really bother me. He knows not to use it, and I’m sure it’s
nothing worse than what he has herd on the school bus. I know that is the first
place I ever herd the F word. Most of the “bad” things I learned when I was a
youth was on a bus, and I don’t think that has probably changed. He’s herd the
language, he knows not to use the language (at least around adults) so
personally I don’t mind him seeing it used in a movie.

The second possible red flag for the film is the
violence. There is one fairly graphic execution, but blood isn’t spewing,
gushing or splattering everywhere. The rest of the gun violence isn’t graphic,
other than when someone is shot blood is shown. I would say there is moderate
violence for a rated R movie. For the era this was made in, it’s on the lesser
end of the violence spectrum. Should my kid who is currently 11 watch it?  For him I would say yes. He’s mature for his
age and it shouldn’t have a profound impact on him. I know the first time I saw
parts of Die Hard I was too young and some of the deaths were etched in my
brain. I don’t think anything is that graphic in Beverly Hills Cop and he’s
mature enough to handle the visuals. That’s not so say other children around
the same age would be able to. It really is a case by case basis

The only other sensitive part of the movie is when
Axel goes to the strip club. There are some topless dancers who are in fact
topless, go figure. That could be a deal breaker for some, but it’s a short
scene and he’s never going to be able to watch an 80’s action movie if I limit
them to ones with no nudity. It also plays a part in the overall story of
gaining the trust of the Beverly Hills officers, and isn’t just thrown in as
some other movies of the era do. Does the scene have to be a strip club, no,
but that’s another discussion about 80’s R rated movies in general.

Now, I think the most crucial point of when it comes
to letting a kiddo watch a movie is if they will be able to grasp the plot and
story. If the story is action packed with lots of explosions most are going to
be able to enjoy it, however if I let my son watch a movie I want to make sure
he understands and grasps what is happening during the course of the film. I
let my son watch the Daniel Craig Bond Films leading up to Spectre, and re-watching
these with him I realized how convoluted the plot in Casino Royale is. I love
that movie and I fluctuate between that and Skyfall as my favorite Bond films,
but the plot and story is a little dense, at least for an 11 year old. I had to
stop the movie a couple of times and explain what was going on. The concept of
betting against the stock market is a bit hard to explain. Beverly Hills cop
doesn’t really have that. It’s a simple murder mystery that Axel has to solve.
The only part I would have to explain would be what German bearer
bonds are, and that’s is easy enough. The barebones of the story are someone
killed Axel’s friend, and he has to find out why and who did it. Simple, straightforward
and easy to follow.

What is a bit harder to follow are the jokes. Axel/Murphey
is wise cracking the entire movie and some of the jokes are a bit dated for the
80’s and intended for an older audience.
I went ahead and let my son watch the movie, and during the scene when
Axel is checking into the hotel and pretending to be a Rolling Stone’s reporter
my son asked what Rolling Stone is. Forehead slap to face, please don’t think I
have failed as a father.  So I told him
and he was like okay, whatever. The amount of the Hotel room is also comical.
It is meant to seem extremely expensive, but by today standards and for Beverly
Hills the price today would be extremely low.  I didn’t find him laughing at many of the
jokes, but I found still found them funny, so they might have gone over his
head or he just might not have found them funny. 

I don’t remember when I first saw Beverly Hills cop. I
know it was probably after I got cable in my room as a kid, so probably around
13 or 14.  I remember loving it and
thinking it was funny, and is why I own the trilogy.  My son said he liked it, but I’m not sure it
captivated him as much as it did the first time I saw it. So maybe he is a year
or two away from when he should see it for the jokes, or he sadly just doesn’t
like movies. Comedy is in the end very subjective.

I think the right age range for this movie is probably
11-14 depending on kid.  The website
commonsense media has this listed as 16+ which is a bit too conservative for my
taste, but I can understand those who think that is the right age. Let me know
in the comments when you first saw Beverly Hills Cop. If you have kids when
would you feel comfortable letting them watch the movie.

This my first When Should I let my Kid Watch Video,
but I plan on doing more of them maybe once a week or every other week. Let me
know what you think and other suggestions on what we should watch next.
Subscribe to keep up with the content, give me a thumbs up if you like the
video, and share if you think it’s worth sharing.  Is that it, yep that’s it. Bye