When I was really young (like 4 or so), my parents would let me watch horror movies like Aliens. Especially when I was younger, it didn't scare me at all, just because I didn't even comprehend what was going on was supposed to be scary or relate to the marines in any way. I just saw guys in military outfits shooting guns, and thought it was like G.I. Joe. When I got a little older (like 6), I started to get scared during the parts where Newt and Ripley were under threat from the face-hugger, and skipped out that part, but I still could watch the rest because it was just stuff getting shot and blowing up.
Inversely, I remember that the Rugrats movie, which featured the babies getting lost as a main plot point, traumatized many children taken to see the show. There was an article about how small children have as their greatest instinctual fear being separated from their parents/lost/abandoned, and they can empathize far more effectively with other child characters.
So basically, it's entirely possible for the kidmiral to just not understand the movie or empathize with the characters to the point where he gets scared.
When I was really young (like 4 or so), my parents would let me watch horror movies like Aliens. Especially when I was younger, it didn't scare me at all, just because I didn't even comprehend what was going on was supposed to be scary or relate to the marines in any way. I just saw guys in military outfits shooting guns, and thought it was like G.I. Joe. When I got a little older (like 6), I started to get scared during the parts where Newt and Ripley were under threat from the face-hugger, and skipped out that part, but I still could watch the rest because it was just stuff getting shot and blowing up.
Inversely, I remember that the Rugrats movie, which featured the babies getting lost as a main plot point, traumatized many children taken to see the show. There was an article about how small children have as their greatest instinctual fear being separated from their parents/lost/abandoned, and they can empathize far more effectively with other child characters.
So basically, it's entirely possible for the kidmiral to just not understand the movie or empathize with the characters to the point where he gets scared.
Even jumpscares rely on the viewer being absorbed right before they happen. Can't pull that trick on a kid who is not engaged at all by any part of the movie.
