Parents' Guide to

Jaws

By Scott G. Mignola, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

'70s classic horror tale is still scary as ever.

Movie PG 1975 125 minutes
Jaws Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 96 parent reviews

Lotty6
Lotty6 Parent of 7 and 12-year-old
October 11, 2021
age 13+
This movie doesn’t have that much violence but it’s still intense there is moderate language but it isn’t to much for young teens this is how I rank blood some blood fair amount of blood lots of blood tons of blood plenty of blood and then stuff like very bloody extremely bloody violence 6%10 early in the movie someone is eaten there’s lots of blood little boy is eaten some blood a dead body emerges from a sunken ship and i think you might see his eye plucked out some one is eaten blood coming out of his mouth shark shot huge explosion and blood spatters I now there’s moderate language but I don’t remember the words this is how I rank language some language moderate language frequent language lots of language tons of language constant language and this movie also has some sex sex 3%10 a girl gos swimming naked but I don’t remember seeing anything bad and there’s also some kissing thanks for reading my review my next review will be for jaws 2
Andrea4126
Andrea4126 Adult
September 6, 2021
age 12+

Terrorized my 6 year old

I feel like a terrible mom. I let my 6 year old watch this and he has seen Jurassic Park and other adult movies so I thought this would be ok. I had forgotten how gory it was. The scene where they went scuba diving and saw the dead guy absolutely terrorized my son, I’ve never seen him scared like that EVER and he cried after that scene. I felt so bad and mad at myself. My husband and I took turns with him because he couldn’t sleep that night. Anyways not okay for small kids :(
See all 96 parent reviews

What's the Story?

At the start of JAWS, during a late-night teen beach party, a girl disappears while swimming. When her remains come ashore, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) believes it was a shark attack. Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), though, is worried about the effect such news might have on the tourist trade. After a few more attacks, some local fishermen catch a shark. The Mayor ignores warnings from ichthyologist Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) that the shark the fishermen caught was too small to have been the one in the attacks. Another fatality sends Brody, Hooper, and local fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) off to find the Great White. While an unlikely group to work together -- Quint is simply doing it for the money and clearly disrespects Chief Brody's inexperience and fear of the water as well as Hooper's pedantic college knowledge -- the three slowly begin to bond when they realize that the shark is larger and much more vicious than they could have ever anticipated.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (96 ):
Kids say (453 ):

This film remains a classic horror movie that transcends the genre and the time in which it was released, and rightfully so. As one of Steven Spielberg's early films, his adept building up of the tension -- heightened that much more by the almost universally known two-note "shark attack" music provided by John Williams -- shines in both the shark attack scenes and in the spaces in which the story is given time to build and the characters have room to develop. Even with a shark that doesn't look terribly realistic by today's standards, JAWS still delivers the suspense and the terror, and is a textbook study on how to escalate tension for maximum payoff.

In terms of the acting, the chemistry between Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw is still a delight to take in. At the time of its release, it was the highest-grossing box office movie of all time, and continues to remain a staple in American pop culture.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the fact that Jaws is considered the first official "summer blockbuster." What other blockbusters can you think of? What do they have in common?

  • How is music used to build suspense in this movie? What are some other examples of well-known horror movie soundtracks?

  • Do you think the violence in the movie was necessary to the story, or was it simply included to provide added scares and horror for the audience?

  • Do you think this movie still works today, or is it too dated? Why?

Movie Details

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