Why I won't take my son to see Star Wars The Force Awakens

Adam Driver as baddie Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

* Like most of our Star Wars coverage, this story contains potential spoilers ...

There's a princess, a lanky Wookie, a wise-cracking space smuggler and a cute new droid that blips and bleeps and will instantly win over many the heart of a Star Wars fan.

Sounds like the recipe for family fun, right?

Wrong. There's no way I'm taking my five-year-old son to see the new Star Wars film.

I came to that realisation at the midway point of last night's first Auckland screening of The Force Awakens, during the second of the film's two torture scenes featuring the brilliant Darth Vader-aping baddie Kylo Ren.

Shot in a dimly lit room, Ren uses the Force to extract information from a kidnapped Rey, who, just like Poe Dameron in an earlier torture scene, is chained to a steel contraption and may or may not know the whereabouts of missing Jedi superstar, Luke Skywalker.

As the camera zooms in on Rey's contorted, distressed face, with Ren's creepy evil voice echoing around the theatre, I knew my son couldn't see the film.

It's a shame. Like many of his school friends, he's fallen in love with the Star Wars universe. He has Star Wars Lego, he watches Star Wars cartoons, his favourite character is Yoda and his most well-worn T-shirt is - you guessed it - a red Star Wars one that says, "The Force is strong with this one".

He's seen all of the first six films. I even sat next to him on the couch as he waded through George Lucas' three awful prequels. Well, some of them. I draw the line at Jar-Jar.

So he's going to be gutted at the news. But he can't go. Here's why.

It's far too dark. Some of the film's opening scenes involve Ren ordering an entire village to be executed by Stormtroopers.

In another key scene, city dwellers cower as a death ray dissolves their planet.

As for the giant squid-like beasts that infest Han Solo's freighter ship? I don't want him to see those.

Mostly, though, it's Ren that worries me. Adam Driver's character is a disturbing presence whenever he's on screen, smashing up computers with his triple-bladed light saber, threatening pain on all who wrong him, and just being an all-round brilliant Star Wars baddie.

I know Ren would freak my son out. He's a sensitive kid. And it won't just upset him in the theatre - it could induce nightmares for weeks.

So, for now, my son won't get to meet BB-8, Rey or Finn, take in the sweeping space battles, or enjoy many of the film's laugh-out-loud moments. Because, unlike those corny prequels, this isn't a film for young kids.

Now I just need to work out how to tell him. Perhaps the the Millennium Falcon Lego set would work as compensation.

* In New Zealand, The Force Awakens is rated 'M (Science fiction themes & violence)'.