Is The Witches OK for a 12 year old?

Likely fine. Little to manage. Worth watching for the creature work alone. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is The Witches OK for a 13 year old?

Likely fine. Little to manage. Worth watching for the creature work alone. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Is The Witches OK for a 7 Year Old?

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 4 year old?

Not yet. Wait. The premise alone, witches who exist specifically to destroy children and can smell them, is aimed above this age, and the reveal scene is far too much. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 5 year old?

Not yet. Wait. The premise alone, witches who exist specifically to destroy children and can smell them, is aimed above this age, and the reveal scene is far too much. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 6 year old?

Depends on the kid. The classic case of knowing your child. The story is a Roald Dahl adventure and most of it plays like one. But the unmasking is genuinely intense, and the hero spends the last act transformed into a mouse and hunted in a kitchen full of knives. Kids who like scary stories remember this movie fondly. Kids who do not remember it for other reasons. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 7 year old?

Depends on the kid. The classic case of knowing your child. The story is a Roald Dahl adventure and most of it plays like one. But the unmasking is genuinely intense, and the hero spends the last act transformed into a mouse and hunted in a kitchen full of knives. Kids who like scary stories remember this movie fondly. Kids who do not remember it for other reasons. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for an 8 year old?

Depends on the kid. The classic case of knowing your child. The story is a Roald Dahl adventure and most of it plays like one. But the unmasking is genuinely intense, and the hero spends the last act transformed into a mouse and hunted in a kitchen full of knives. Kids who like scary stories remember this movie fondly. Kids who do not remember it for other reasons. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 9 year old?

Likely fine. Comfortable territory. The effects read as impressive rather than traumatic, and the story's dark wit becomes the point. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for a 10 year old?

Likely fine. Comfortable territory. The effects read as impressive rather than traumatic, and the story's dark wit becomes the point. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

Q: Is The Witches OK for an 11 year old?

Likely fine. Comfortable territory. The effects read as impressive rather than traumatic, and the story's dark wit becomes the point. The Witches scores 41 on FilmScout's ScoutScore, in the Mild tier.

The Witches (1990) · the answer, age by age

Written by FilmScout, reviewed by Ben Fedyniak · Updated September 15, 2026

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41 MILD ScoutScore

For most 7 year olds, the 1990 version of The Witches is doable with a warning, and the warning is one specific scene. It scores 41 on the ScoutScore, in the Mild tier, and most of the movie earns that. What the tier cannot convey is the Grand High Witch's unmasking, a practical-effects transformation that has startled children for three decades and is the single reason this page exists.

A ScoutScore is a living number. We re-check movies against the source and raise or lower it when we find something the first pass missed, so a score you see today can differ from one you saw last month.

Age by age

Under 6 NOT YET

Wait. The premise alone, witches who exist specifically to destroy children and can smell them, is aimed above this age, and the reveal scene is far too much.

Ages 6 to 8 DEPENDS

The classic case of knowing your child. The story is a Roald Dahl adventure and most of it plays like one. But the unmasking is genuinely intense, and the hero spends the last act transformed into a mouse and hunted in a kitchen full of knives. Kids who like scary stories remember this movie fondly. Kids who do not remember it for other reasons.

Ages 9 to 11 LIKELY FINE

Comfortable territory. The effects read as impressive rather than traumatic, and the story's dark wit becomes the point.

Ages 12 and up LIKELY FINE

Little to manage. Worth watching for the creature work alone.

By the year

The same verdicts, by the exact age you are asking about.

4 year old	NOT YET	Wait.
5 year old	NOT YET	Wait.
6 year old	DEPENDS	The classic case of knowing your child.
7 year old	DEPENDS	The classic case of knowing your child.
8 year old	DEPENDS	The classic case of knowing your child.
9 year old	LIKELY FINE	Comfortable territory.
10 year old	LIKELY FINE	Comfortable territory.
11 year old	LIKELY FINE	Comfortable territory.
12 year old	LIKELY FINE	Little to manage.
13 year old	LIKELY FINE	Little to manage.

Where the big moments land

If you preview one scene in this whole guide, make it the first one below. It arrives half an hour in, it is the movie's whole reputation, and knowing it is coming changes everything for a nervous kid.

30:36	Caution	Grand High Witch reveals herself and burns a witch
43:37	Caution	Luke is discovered, chased, captured, and force-fed the potion
1:19:31	Heads up	Witches transform into mice - dining room chaos

These three are a sample. The full scene map, and live alerts that arrive before each scene while you watch, are in the FilmScout app.

Get the app

This guide tells you before. The app tells you during.

Every scene above is timed. The FilmScout app listens to the movie and taps you 30 seconds before each one, so you can skip it, mute it, or talk it through. Free to start on iPhone.

Download for iPhone

The bottom line

A Dahl adaptation that keeps his teeth. One transformation shot with unblinking patience decides whether your child is ready, so decide on that scene, not on the poster.

Content map

How the scenes we flagged in this movie divide up by kind. These are shares of what was flagged, not a level, and not a promise about anything we did not flag: a movie with very little flagged content can still be 80% one kind.

Flagged mostly for scary and dark.

Scary and dark	72%
Violence and action	15%
Themes	4%
Sexual content	none flagged
Substances	5%
Language	4%
All flagged content	100%

Direction is the kind of content flagged. Reach is the ScoutScore, which is how much there is: green at the centre, yellow, orange, then red at the dotted line, which is 100. The scale has no ceiling, so a shape can cross it.

Scout every scene in the app.
The Witches mapped moment by moment, with alerts that follow along while you watch.

Full scene report for The Witches

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Every age guide

Quoting this page? Writers, bloggers, and fellow parents are welcome to quote these verdicts with credit to FilmScout and a link back here. Scores change as movies are rescored, so please link rather than hardcode a number. Boilerplate and assets are in the press kit.

ScoutScores are FilmScout's own scene by scene analysis and change as the catalog is rescored. These verdicts describe how movies tend to land by age. You know your family; the final call is always yours. FilmScout is independent and is not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by any studio or ratings board.

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