THE MOVIE THEATER — At about the age of 8, and well into my tweens, I wanted nothing more than to become a knight with all of the armor, horses and weapons that came with the job. If I had my choice, I would have been seated with the knights of King Arthur’s round table doing the best job a kid could do.

Fast forward a few years and I can’t say that desire has completely left me, and on occasion, I’ll toss the idea around of dusting off those childhood dreams and seeing what I could make of them. Usually, I end up deciding that England is too far of a commute to do what is essentially really dangerous work, after all, I have kids now I have to think about.

Even though I will likely not know the thrill of using an enchanted sword to fight injustice and fulfill my destiny, I do get to talk with you about what to expect from "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" from a parent’s perspective, unrealized childhood dreams notwithstanding.

Violence

We are talking about a PG-13 story of King Arthur as told by Guy Ritchie so, of course, there is going to be a fair amount of violence. The type of violence we are exposed to in "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” mostly inhabits the realm of "Lord of the Rings" level violence. A lot of hand-to-hand combat, sword fighting and your typical medieval style warfare make up the bulk of on-screen violence.

There is not a lot of blood and no explicit gore shown, but there are some intense moments where we see King Arthur’s evil uncle kill some people in a chilling way.

Language

There is a liberal amount of swearing used throughout the movie as the dialogue resembles a lot of what kids may hear on a day-to-day basis at school. These are your typical PG-13 swears, except for once when the F-word is dropped in no uncertain terms.

Coarse language is the rule here, rather than the exception. The offensive language is not necessarily worse than other movies of equivalent tone, but it does stay consistent throughout the film.

Sexuality

In this film, sexuality or even romance for that matter are not much of a theme. There is some reference to prostitution as it relates to young King Arthur’s upbringing and is essential to the telling of this particular version of the story. There is nothing sexually explicit in the film, but there is an occasional innuendo thrown out here and there.

Intensity

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'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' is a unique, irreverent take on the famous tale

The King Arthur tale has been told over and over again, and we get yet another version this weekend with “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.”

This is a fast-paced movie with a lot of action, most of which is a ton of fun to watch. It can be somewhat intense at times, depending on your child’s sensitivities, but really the action and special effects are what make this film so exciting to experience.

Summary

You get from "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" about what you would expect from this type of movie. The film is visually fun to watch and will have you on the edge of your seat a lot of the time. This film checks off most of the boxes necessary to earn its PG-13 rating but isn't particularly more offensive to kids 13 and above than other films of the same rating.

As always, the parent's review is offered as a way to help you understand how much potentially offensive content you and your children will be exposed to before you walk into a film so you aren't blindsided before it's too late. However, as always, it is up to your discretion what content your child is mature enough to handle.

For an in-depth review of the movie, please see John Clyde’s take on the film from a connoisseur of cinema’s perspective.

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