Doctor Strange: Row breaks out over film’s PG-13 rating

A debate has errupted over the PG-13 age rating for Marvel’s latest film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Some fans who watched the Doctor Strange sequel have questioned why it was rated appropriate for children over the age of 13, despite scenes featuring graphic violence and horror elements. Others praised Marvel and director Sam Raimi for “pushing the boundaries” of the PG-13 rating.

Viewers also shared gruesome scenes from other PG-13 rated movies to make the point that Doctor Strange 2 was no more inappopriate for younger audiences than “darker PG-13 adventure films” such as The Mummy, 2015’s Poltergeist (produced by Raimi), and Drag Me to Hell (directed by Raimi).

Some fans also pointed out that the PG-13 rating for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was appropriate, since it strongly cautions parents that “some material may be inappropriate for children under 13”. This is according to the Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA) – an independent division of the Motion Pictures Association that administers movie ratings.

One person, praising Raimi’s style of filmmaking, observed: “This ‘[Doctor] Strange should have been R!’ take is really silly. But I will say it shows how good someone like Raimi is at working within the lines of a PG-13.

It FEELS more gruesome than it actually is.”

Meanwhile, others were less inclined to believe that the “dark” and “brutal” film should carry a PG-13 rating.

“How was Multiverse of Madness PG-13???”, one audience member wondered, adding, “I’m a 33-year-old man and I was shocked. Kinda liked it though, Just some 13-year-olds might be in for a surprise.”

As the debate raged on, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Sunday that Marvel’s “hardest PG-13 rated film” probably received its rating because the horror and violence is perpetuated by superheroes and supervillians – not real–life persons – and parents of younger children will likely also interpret the scenes the same way.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in UK cinemas from 5 May.

You can read The Independent‘s film critic Clariss Loughrey’s two-star review of the film here.