"Wild Things" should be rated PG13

We took our 4-year-old son to his first movie in a theater Friday.

The theater experience was good. Our son sat perched on his seat entranced with the scene. He remarked that the screen was bigger than our TV. He marveled at the runway-esque red lights that guide people to the stairs and their seats. He enjoyed nibbling on cheese popcorn (in a small Ziplock bag from home) while his friend Rachel, her mom, his mom and his dad enjoyed theirs. And he was amazed at the brightness outside after sitting in the dark.

But the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" was a bad choice. Thankfully, much of it was over my son's head, and he had the distraction of being in a movie theater for the first time.

I had read the book many times, watched a movie trailer, seen some advertisements for it and read a DNT blog that it would be a good movie to take the kids to. The outing had been suggested by my husband and Rachel's mom, both teachers who love children. I was sold and didn't do any further research.

The movie has a few similarities to the book: the look of Max and the monsters, some memorable lines of dialogue and the scene where Max, dressed in his wolf suit, chases the dog with a fork. But it is dark and violent, focused on raging out-of-control anger and physical abuse.

Mom gets a D- for this one.