Smoking Caterpillar Robs Alice in Wonderland of G Rating

Alice in Wonderland is hitting theaters today, on regular screens, in 3D, and IMAX 3D. We haven’t seen it yet, but we are cautiously optimistic: On the one hand, the beauty of Lewis Carroll‘s story came from its wit and logic puzzles, not from cr8zy holograms and Johnny Depp as a presumably roguishly sexy Mad Hatter (and early reviews have been mediocre); on the other hand, the trailer did look pretty cool, and Alice in Wonderland seems hard to totally bungle.

Oddly enough, this Alice in Wonderland is rated PG; the original, 1951 Disney animated Alice in Wonderland had a G rating when it was rereleased in 1974. (MPAA ratings didn’t exist until 1968.) What accounts for the discrepancy? A certain smoking caterpillar has a lot to do with it, apparently:

From the MPAA’s stated reasons for the PG rating:

Rating:
PG
MPAA Reasons:
for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.

Guys: the original Alice in Wonderland also had a hookah-smoking caterpillar. And it was pretty scary, if we do say so ourselves. Standards have changed, we suppose.

(h/t Fark)