Rating: PG-13, for sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive content.

So many parent friends of mine – with little girls, especially – have asked me whether this big-screen version of Wonder Woman is suitable for their kids. And the answer, as much as I hate to say it, is: probably not. Not yet, at least. Don’t get me wrong – it’s great. But it’s also extremely violent. The origin story of Diana Prince (a hugely charismatic Gal Gadot), the Amazon warrior who’d become a superhero, is both thrilling and moving. Director Patty Jenkins has pulled off a tricky balance of humor, heart, and high-tech spectacle that’s genuinely inspiring. But Wonder Woman also features several long, graphic action sequences. There’s a ton of gunfire, swordplay, and hand-to-hand combat. Several characters die, and while there isn’t a lot of blood (hence the PG-13 rating), the movie definitely doesn’t shy away from showing the actual deaths. We see people in peril – including women and children — during World War I battles. In one scene, a room full of bad guys perish from poisonous gas. There’s also the suggestion of a sex scene between Diana and Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), the American spy she rescues from a crash landing, but all we see is kissing in a hotel room. At over two hours, Wonder Woman also might be too long for many young viewers. I brought my 7 ½-year-old son with me and he was fine, but he’s also seen a) a lot of movies in general, and b) a lot of comic-book movies specifically. (He also loved it – and he wasn’t so enthusiastic about seeing it beforehand.) But Diana is heroic and brave, idealistic and pure, she’s usually the smartest and most capable person in the room or on the battlefield. That’s all worthwhile. But I suspect this would be too much just yet for viewers younger than 8 or 9.

