"There was some MPAA rating confusion about The Avengers. The early previews for the film clearly identified it as being a "PG" movie, but the actual release carries a 'PG-13.' There's really nothing in the film to warrant that, with one minor exception – a single use of the 'f-word.' What's curious is that this particular expletive seems to have been dubbed in after the fact. It's not unreasonable to speculate that Warner Bros., not wanting the film to be tagged with a 'wimpy' PG, added one really bad word to bump the rating up."
— James Berardinelli's review
of The Avengers (1998)
of The Avengers (1998)Gene Siskel: Here's a problem I did have: the film is rated PG-13 because of one obscene language exchange, and it came out of the blue. Now here's a picture I think a lot of kids would enjoy seeing. It is a genial comedy. Why do they have to stick in the F-word to get the PG-13?
Roger Ebert: I'll tell ya: they put the word in to get the PG-13 because they were afraid if they got a PG, everybody would think it was innocuous.
— Siskel & Ebert review of 1996's Eddie
"Who wants to see some dumb cartoon rated G-for-kids?"
— Brad Neary, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
"Well, there's your PG rating, folks. Aren't you glad all you parents in the audience had to be dragged to this flick just for that?"
— The Nostalgia Critic on a use of the word "shit" in Richie Rich (1994)
"Nyeah, we had to get that damn PG rating somehow!"
— The Nostalgia Critic on Casper (1995)'s use of this trope
"Well, it seems the "PG" only gets doled out if Ashcroft's face changes expression."
— Seth Weiner of Otaku-Sempai discussing The Secret of NIMH's G rating
"Ladies and gentlemen, in order to achieve an "R" rating today, a motion picture must contain full frontal nudity, graphic violence, or an explicit reference to the sex act. Since this film has none of those, and since research has proven that R-rated films are by far the most popular with the moviegoing public, the producers of this motion picture have asked me to take this opportunity to say "Fuck you.""
"Warriors of Virtue" is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It does an excellent job of avoiding the dreaded G rating by having its characters repeat a four-letter word several times in quick succession."
— from Lawrence Van Gelder's review of Warriors of Virtue
of Warriors of Virtue"I've discussed in the past the odd phenomenon over the last ten years in regard to animated films struggling to get (whether they want it or not) a G rating. While in the 1990's we had Disney toons filled with offscreen massacres and onscreen battlefield massacres (Mulan), villains being hanged (Tarzan), and religiously-motivated baddies killing women and stealing their babies and eventually singing about their sinful lusting as the fires of hell threatened to consume them (Hunchback Of Notre Dame). But by Tangled in 2010, well, "brief mild violence" was enough to get a PG rating. Once Shrek made the PG safe for animated features, the G became culturally irrelevant. Ditto such brutal entertainments as The Smurfs ("some mild action and rude humor"), The Lorax ("brief mild language") and Frozen ("mild action and rude humor"). This wasn't The Black Cauldron (with rotting corpses and reanimated skeletons), Prince of Egypt (ten whole plagues!) or Kung Fu Panda 2 (with some brutal kung-fu battles, a panda genocide and wrenching emotional beats). This was/is a new trend whereby almost every animated feature no matter how benign is now tagged with a PG rating. And now we have a similar game being played on the live-action side. The PG-13 has become such an all-encompassing designation that it's now entirely meaningless."
— Scott Mendelson, "‘Enola Holmes,’ Netflix’s Most-Watched Movie, Proves The PG-13 Rating Has Failed" on Forbes
on Forbes"There's a reason why he keeps mentioning his genitals. It's to distract us from the fact that, in pretty much every other respect, this is a kids' song. Just think about it. Does this song sound like it was written for someone who lives in the adult world? [...] No, this is a song about ignoring your homework and hiding from Mom before she tells you to do chores. This song was probably written by Raffi, and then Bruno Mars stole it and drew dicks all over it. Hell, even the dancing monkeys look like a Sesame Street segment that curdled in the fridge."
—Todd in the Shadows on "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars
"There are times where I can maybe, MAYBE, squint my eyes and convince myself I'm playing something related to Sonic the Hedgehog, but the game likes to constantly remind you that it's hardcore and bright colors are for pussies! Look at all this fucking purple and gray! This is a man's game about a superpowered three-foot hedgehog!"
