What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is no Masterpiece Theater rendition of ancient history. Like Sin City, 300 is an ultraviolent tale based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. There's blood galore as the Spartans -- trained war machines -- defend their land against Xerxes' massive Persian army. Battlefield valor and violence is glorified by the Spartans, who take no prisoners and show no mercy. Heads literally roll, blood splatters, exotic animals are sliced and speared. Many, many soldiers on either side die gruesomely. If on-screen death and war -- even one so stylized and cartoonish at times -- is too disturbing a subject matter for your kids (or you!), this bloodfest isn't a safe bet.

Families can talk about the Spartans' upbringing and values. Why are 7-year-olds forced to fight each other -- and adults? Xerxes offers Leonidas what sounds like a sweet deal. Why does the king, facing certain death, turn it down? How were the Spartans different from their allies, the Arcadians? (Spoiler Alert!) Did the 300 die in vain? Teens interested in the film's style can check out the source material: Frank Miller and colorist Lynn Varley's epic graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. Is it obvious that this movie is based on a graphic novel? What, if anything, does it have in common with fellow Miller adaptation Sin City?

Common Sense Media Review
Director Zach Snyder, whose clever remake of zombie classic Dawn of the Dead was so well received, returns to the world of gore via the glory of ancient Sparta. Adapting Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, Snyder takes a hyperstylized visual approach to depicting the famed Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas ( Gerard Butler) and his 300 elite personal guards defied their Oracle and the odds to wage war against Xerxes' huge, unrelenting Persian army.

Faced with the choice of submitting to Xerxes (Brazilian Lost regular Rodrigo Santoro, rendered nearly unrecognizable in earrings and eye makeup) or waging war, Leonidas makes the only choice a warrior-king can: fight. Leonidas and his personal detachment, led by his captain (fine character actor Vincent Regan) and Dilios (David Wenham), discover that although they're grossly outnumbered, they can funnel the enemy into the Hot Gates (the literal translation of "Thermopylae"), a narrow pass where the Spartans' special-forces skills will crush wave after wave of the Persians.

And, oh, how they crush. It's impressive and disarming to see the 300 delight in the "glory" of warfare. The Spartans, so drunk on warlust that they dismember, skewer, decapitate, and spear the enemy -- whether it's human, animal, or something in between -- are brave, but also a bit mad. What the Spartans want (unlike the Arcadians, a group of fellow Greeks that joins them) is not to survive but to "die a beautiful death" in battle.

At times engrossing and at times laughably over-the-top -- the whole sequence in Xerxes' lair, with its hedonistic sensuality, smacks of stereotypical Orientalism, not to mention some of the grossly depicted Persian soldiers, and the disfigured hunchback who plays a central role -- 300 is entertaining as an extended war sequence. But it falls short of reaching the revolutionary Matrix -like status that the film's creators claim.

For similar portrayals of epic battles, see Troy -- or, better yet, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , Spartacus , and 1962's The 300 Spartans. Fans of graphic novel adaptations might also enjoy Sin City (also based on a Miller tale) and V for Vendetta.

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