Is ‘Wicked: For Good’ Appropriate for Kids? Expert Explains Age Rating

Wicked: For Good is soaring at the box office, but the film’s darker tone has raised questions about whether or not the content is suitable for kids.

After influencer Sara Burnett shared via Instagram that she walked out of the movie theater with her kids due to an implied sex scene and spellcasting following the film’s Friday, November 21, release, Us Weekly turned to film expert Betsy Bozdech to provide clarity on the PG rating and weigh in on the debate surrounding child-appropriate content.

“We rated this one appropriate for 11 and up,” Bozdech, Common Sense Media’s Editorial Director, exclusively told Us of the organization’s rating of the movie. “So it’s definitely firmly in between territory for us. According to our ratings, I wouldn’t say it’s a great choice for 5- or 6-year-olds either. Again, though, every parent knows their kid and their family best and can make those decisions. It’s just, you need to be ready then to manage the impact of those decisions if they don’t work out.”

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that reviews and provides ratings to help parents find age-appropriate content for their kids, specifically referenced “several kisses, including a few passionate ones, and a non-graphic love scene during the song ‘As Long as You’re Mine,’” as well as the fact that “two characters take off outer garments” in its review of the film.

Related: ‘Wicked: For Good‘ Review Roundup: What Fans and Critics Are Saying

Wicked: For Good has officially arrived — and fans and critics have a lot to say about the musical sequel. Director Jon M. Chu’s For Good picks up five years after the events of the 2024 blockbuster Wicked, with Glinda Upland (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) on very different paths. While Glinda relishes […]

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) have implied intercourse off screen, and are seen cuddling each other underneath a blanket following “As Long as You’re Mine.” Elphaba’s bare shoulders are shown after shedding her cardigan.

“We rate all of the potentially concerning categories on a scale of zero to five dots,” Bozdech explained Common Sense Media’s rating process to Us. “For instance, for this age, we rated the sex, romance and nudity in Wicked: For Good with four dots because there is implied sex, and there is very partial nudity.”

As for what specifically went into the MPA’s official PG rating of the film, Bozdech explained that “only the MPA knows specific reading criteria. It’s not a transparent system, they don’t put it out publicly to what their checklist is or what their criteria are. It’s actually sort of historically a little bit opaque, and the only thing anyone’s really ever been able to figure out for sure is that if you use the f-word more than twice, you get an R rating.”

Bozdech recommends that parents utilize sites like Common Sense Media to research a film’s content if they are unsure if it is suitable for certain audiences.

“If you have the time and the energy, I think that’s also a fine choice, ’cause then you really know,” she said, also pointing out that parents can wait until a film comes out on streaming to assess whether or not it’s kid-friendly. “And another option, of course, it’s not as much fun as going to the theater, but it’s waiting to watch something at home when you can pause it, you can turn the volume down, you can have the lights up. So if anything is a little bit overwhelming, you have some tools at your disposal to take it slower and take breaks if you need to.”

Wicked: For Good is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) “for action/violence, some suggestive material and thematic material.” Bozdech said the MPA is “never gonna rate something that is truly, truly adult as PG for kids. There’s definitely certain lines.”

“Like, Deadpool is never going to be PG, or, you know, something with actual nudity is never going to be PG,” she continued.

Bozdech admitted she thinks “all of the MPA buckets are a little too broad” because “there’s differences between 12 and 14, there’s differences between 15 and 17, there’s differences between seven and 9,” highlighting the “granularity and information” Common Sense Media provides to parents as a “great alternative.”

PG is “one of the most challenging ratings because it really does cover such a wide range of material,” in Bozdech’s eyes. She referenced other films like Toy Story, Turning Red, Show Dogs and Barbie that generated their own debates over what age ranges they’re truly suitable for.

“There’s a really big difference between 4- and 5-year-olds and 10-, 11-, 12-year-olds, developmentally. And that’s why we base all of our ratings on child development research, because in general, based on a lot of research, they find that at certain ages, kids are ready or not going to be scarred by certain things,” she said of Common Sense Media’s ratings scale. “And so that’s why we provide ratings that are every year from ages 2 up to 18.”

Related: What Are the 2 New Songs in ‘Wicked: For Good’? What We Know

Wicked: For Good will feature two new original songs — allowing audiences to explore Elphaba and Glinda’s journeys on an even deeper level. Part 2 of the movie musical, which is based on the second half of the Broadway musical, left off with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) belting out “Defying Gravity” after she and BFF Glinda […]

Bozdech understands that “every kid is different and every family knows their kid best, and every parent has the right to make the choice that works best for their family.” She pointed out how all of the Wicked merchandise aimed at little kids, like costumes, toys and food certainly could be interpreted by some parents as the film being suitable for younger kids. “You go to the grocery store and every other product is pink and green right now, so it’s tricky.”

Wicked is based on the 2003 stage musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, which was derived from Gregory Maguire‘s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

“In this case, particularly, this story has been around in some form for 30 years. The book was written in the ‘90s, which is actually way darker and more mature than either the Broadway show or the movies, by the way,” Bozdech noted. “That is like, definitely not for young kids. It’s like, teenagers and up. But then they made it into a musical, which was lighter and happier, but had all of these same elements in it. The first movie didn’t have this many moments of darkness, but it is of the same theme, right? It’s of a similar theme, and actually, my first question for the person who walked out, I’m just curious to know if they saw the first one. And if so, if that was OK and if it was literally just this scene of the implied sex that was the problem?”

Related: A Review of All the Songs on the ‘Wicked: For Good‘ Soundtrack

After almost exactly a year, Wicked: For Good has finally hit theaters, and Us is celebrating with a deep dive of its soundtrack! Containing a total of 11 songs with a run time of 44 minutes, Wicked: For Good – The Soundtrack includes two brand-new tracks written by the musical’s original composer, Stephen Schwartz. As […]

Still, Bozdech believes the debate over what parents deem appropriate and inappropriate for their kids will likely always occur with movies like this.

“I think the world would be a much more boring place if we didn’t have entertainment and media that made everybody talk about it,” she said. “Like if you make something that’s truly unobjectionable to everyone, I don’t think it’s going to be very fun. One person’s fun is going to be someone else’s offensive, and I don’t think that’s likely to change anytime soon, but I think that what every family and every parent can do is find out about the media that their kids are interested in and decide whether it works for their family, based on their kids’ developmental readiness, what they’re into, how they’ve responded to other things.”

When it comes to a franchise like Wicked, Bozdech feels the story will still be relevant and talked about for years to come.

“Look … how many years have passed since The Wizard of Oz? It came out in 1939. So we’re coming in on 100 years of The Wizard of Oz, right? And everybody just sort of knows it,” she pointed out. “And so when you’re familiar with something, when it’s become part of the fabric of life and the world around you, you don’t think of it the same way. And eventually, when Wicked: For Good isn’t new, probably people will look back on it with rose-colored glasses, no matter what that experience was at the time.”

Wicked: For Good is in theaters now.