What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this movie involves a great deal of comic-book violence executed with near-bloodless restraint but, at the same time, visceral efficiency. One character is a Holocaust survivor; there's much discussion about tolerance and hatred and prejudice, all in the film's fictional context of "mutants" with special abilities appearing in the human population -- and yet, this might provide a great conversation-starter for families.
- Families can talk about the film's allegorical relationship to everything from Civil Rights to apartheid, as well as the film's metaphors for acceptance, tolerance, and understanding.
- Families can also talk about how often, fantasy and science-fiction are ways to talk about tough real-world issues; does the acceptance of the unreal make it easier to discuss the real?
- Families can also talk about the popularity of super-hero stories -- what need in the audience do they meet? Are they simple fun, or can they be considered seriously as part of what pop culture says about who we are?