Jurassic 'fang fest' proves too gruesome for children

Critics have branded Jurassic World a "fang fest" and "by far the bloodiest chapter in the Jurassic saga".

It's the film everyone's flocking to see - but worried parents are wondering if that should include children under 12, after young viewers had to be hurried out in tears from screenings of Jurassic World.

The fourth film in the Jurassic Park series has taken more than 370 million ($847 million) worldwide in its first week and is Britain's No 1 movie. But its 3D scenes of bloodthirsty dinosaurs have disturbed some children.

It has a 12A certificate in Britain, which allows children under 12 to go if accompanied by an adult.

However, cinema-goers have been disturbed to see weeping youngsters rushed out of screenings. One tweeted: "I was horrified people brought children under 5 to it. They were crying."

Another reported seeing five under-12s having to be taken out of a screening.

And a mother warned parents on Facebook, after her daughter spent the whole film on her lap: "She was petrified and spent most of the time on my knee ... Genuine advice, if your kids are under 10, this might not be the movie for them."

The movie features special effects far more sophisticated than anything in the first film, 1993's Jurassic Park, starring Sam Neill and directed by Steven Spielberg.

Critics have branded it a "fang fest" and "by far the bloodiest chapter in the Jurassic saga".

The 12A certificate, introduced in Britain in 2002, is much coveted by studios keen to avoid the more commercially restrictive 15 classification.

Critics of the rating want a return of the old 12 certificate, which meant anyone under 12 was excluded.

A spokesman for the British Board of Film Classification said: "The film is a solid 12A and not close to the 15 borderline. A 15 classification would of course have had the consequence that 14- and 13-year-olds would not have been able to see the film and this would, in our view, have been wholly unnecessary, and no doubt deeply unpopular as well."

- Mail On Sunday