I was 2 years old when this came out and I constantly watched it growing up. Yes it has a slight darkness to it but it's not terribly scary, it's just a fantasy film that shows the difference between good and evil, if anything it can teach children that.
I was more scared by ETnow he gave me nightmares!

Uh, but this is a kids' movie, made with puppets.
Puppets, ffs.

If you are sitting with your nine year old nephew and discussing the movie, letting him feel for the characters and explain to him how to handle what he is seeing, then he would not be so scared. He would learn sympathy, self sacrifice, honor, respect and courage from this movie.

My 9 year old nephew would have been terrified at Coraline when it first came out, but I think he'd be fine with this one. He did see Coraline last summer and is fine with that now.

There is nothing wrong with a kid being scared. Dark Crystal always gave me nightmares as a kid, but I still remember it fondly.
All glory to the Hypnotoad

This message has been deleted.

There is a difference between letting kids have no limits and not coddling them.
I agree that kids are overprotected. This movie might scare kids or give them nightmares, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Then they can learn to deal with fear at a young age. That's why most fairy tales and fantasy stories are scary, to teach some sort of lesson and deal with fears.
It is up to the parent to decide what level of exposure is ok for their kid, but totally shielding them from anything scary probably isn't healthy either.
All glory to the Hypnotoad

But as a grownup you have had to live with rules and limitations haven't you? The best way we can teach children how to deal with the limitations and rules they will encounter in real life is to put such on them while young.
You say you could watch anything and everything? No doubt, you most likely watched things that were inappropriate. I'm sure you now realize that an adult who truly loves children does not let them watch inappropriate things.
You were allowed to disappear for days and stay out all night with friends? I'm sure that you suffered from exhaustion the next school day, right. Wouldn't you had rather been told to be in at a reasonable hour so you could be able to be alert and study well in school? And here is something else to think about. You may not have had many ill effects from how you were raised, but that is not true for the majority of children. Children do better and want reasonable limits and rules. It makes them secure, lets them know what is required of them and keeps them out of danger.

Kids today are too coddled, too protected from anything and everything that might traumatize them, etc.
too many parents trying to keep them from ever encountering a germ, or convincing them they have a peanut allergy when they don't (look it up, a lot of them are psychosomatic) it's nerf-world.
When I grew up I was allowed to watch anything and everything I wanted, to disappear for days and stay out all night with my friends. No limitations, no rules.
And now at 32 I've never so much as had a speeding ticket, total goodie two-shoes for life.
Lots of times the attempts to shield kids and control them just backfires anyway.

Ive seen it as a 10 year old back then and it never scared me.

Whatever. I was a wee little 5 year old girlie when this came out and my mum took me to see it (we still quote it to this day). I loved it. I loved it so much that I had the 'read along' version and the computer game too. It was a little scary, but in a good way. The only part that bothered me (and still does) is the part where the landstriders get killed by the Garthim, but it never SCARED me. I can't imagine a 9 year old BOY being scared of TDC. Wow.
The bee hunts in pairs.and other fruits

Watching as a kid i think the bigass beetles freaked me out a bit but i was way more upset about the unicorn in legend (which was also a good movie) and your right, with the good comes the bad. Children can think for themselves and certainly shouldn't be sheltered from "all that is bad". I actually got a different message than you from this movie but that's why it's so brilliant, it makes you think.

it IS dark, but thats what makes it so great, i was 8 years old when i saw it and i LOVED it, and remains my number one favorite childhood movie of all time closely followed by Leyend (also a dark fantasy "kids" movie) my brother and all my friend saw it as childs several times over on betamax later on and we all loved it, sure it has is creepy parts but whit the good comes the bad and there is a huge message in this movie about good defeating even the most deep rooted evil, i distinctly remember pestering my dad to buy the tape for me, (he had me wash his car 10 times for it, i was THAT kind of dad)

Perfect response. I've always loved scary stuff. Unfortunately I'm just seeing this movie for the first time as an adult, so I'll never know what my childhood reaction to all this freakiness would've beenbut it's a doozy now, so I can just imagine. XD

Why would your 4 year old niece love such a video where people are being hurt and/or killed? Children should properly be taught to feel for what they see happening to people in videos. Your niece will become unfeeling towards people who are suffering if you and her parents don't quickly teach her how to properly watch videos and teach her which ones are inappropriate to watch, such as this one you mentioned.
Yes, you are quite correct in saying that children's tales have a big scary monster as the main focus, but what is the point of the story? It is that you can defeat the monster and that you should not let it scare you.

The majority of children are drawn to scary things. Obviously you dont let them watch anything graphic or violent, but the fact is kids are greatly intrigued by monsters. Right now my 4 year old niece is obsessed with a music video that involves zombies grabbing people in a night club. Theres no gore but people scream and get bit. She loves it! Some of the best loved childrens tales of all time have a big scary monster as the main focus. It probably helps children to resolves/deal with this innate fear they have of monsters lurking in the dark.
Why do people so frequently get told to "read the book" on a
movie
database?