The Notebook: parents' guide

Brief, toned-down World War II combat in which a close friend dies, and wounded soldiers missing limbs. In heated arguments the heroine repeatedly slaps and shoves her boyfriend. Risky stunts include dangling from a Ferris wheel and lying in a road at night.

Mild and infrequent: about a dozen words such as 'ass,' 'damn' and 'hell,' 'son of a bitch,' a few uses of 'goddamn,' and other misuse of God's name. An old movie in a theater scene includes a dated slur. No f-words reported.

The teen couple undress and start making love before being interrupted. Years later, an affair while she is engaged shows bare backs, buttocks and a brief side view of a breast. He sleeps with a widow, seen nude from behind, and army recruits stand nude.

Noah goes on a ten-day drinking binge after seeing Allie with her fiancé, and she and the fiancé get tipsy on champagne. Adults drink and smoke at parties and meals, and a 17-year-old smokes a cigar.

No scares, but heavy emotion: a friend dies in the war, an elderly woman with dementia cannot recognize her husband and has a frightening episode of confusion, and the ending deals with death at the close of a long life.