How we rate

Every title page answers one question: is this right for my kids? Here’s where each part of the answer comes from, and where it can go wrong.

The age guide

Each title shows up to three age signals:

• Official rating: the classification in your country (for example PG or M), from TMDB. If your country has none, we show the US rating and say so.
• Our guide: the youngest age most children would enjoy the title without being frightened or confused, as judged by our AI (see below).
• Parents say: votes from families, once parent ratings open.

The age we use for the verdicts (“Good for Mia”, “Best from 8+”) is the stricter of the official rating and our guide. So our AI can make a title older, but it can never make it younger than the official rating.

How the guide is written

An AI language model, which we run on our own computer, reads what we know about each title: the TMDB overview, genres, keywords and official ratings, the Wikipedia plot summary where there is one, and timestamped dialogue where subtitles are available. It’s told to use only that evidence and to be a little cautious. From it, the model writes:

• a spoiler-free summary;
• the age guide, with the main reason for it;
• scores for scary content, violence, language, rude humour and sad themes, each from None to Intense;
• up to eight scary moments, with a time when the dialogue pins one down (otherwise marked as approximate);
• the values a title explores, and a few questions to talk about afterwards.

Safety checks

• If our guide comes out more than three years younger than the official rating, it’s flagged for a person to review. The stricter age applies in the meantime.
• Titles the AI rates above 16 are hidden, because the site covers ages 0 to 16.

Pace

Some shows cut to a new shot every couple of seconds, with constant music and noise, which many parents prefer to limit for young children. The pace rating estimates how fast a title feels:

• Calm: long, lingering shots (often 10 seconds or more), quiet sound, slow talk.
• Gentle: unhurried, with cuts every 5 to 10 seconds.
• Moderate: a typical family film, with action in bursts and calmer scenes between.
• Fast: quick cuts, frequent action, loud and busy most of the time.
• Very fast: cuts every 1 to 3 seconds, with constant music, colour and noise.

Pace comes from a separate AI rating, based on what the model knows about the title and its format and genre. We don’t analyse the video itself, so pace is labelled “Estimated”. Before using it, we checked the model against a set of shows we’d rated by hand. Pace never changes the age guide.

Where to watch

Streaming, rental and purchase options for your country come from JustWatch, through TMDB. They can lag behind changes by a few days.

When we get it wrong

AI can misjudge a scene, miss one, or confuse titles with similar names. If a guide looks wrong, email hello@couchapproved.com with the title’s link and what you noticed, and we’ll look into it. See also our terms of use.