“They wanted to make a big family, they wanted to make a film for everybody, and they did. It's a PG movie, it always was a PG movie,” said Joel Silver in an interview with Collider’s Frosty.
It’s not what you would call breaking news, of course, but a PG rating for Speed is just what the doctor ordered. This was a campy TV series built for the family, and kids – young and young at heart – fell in love with the stupidity and insanity of the series.
So it is just as well that the same looks to be said for the movie. A PG rating allows for some parental guidance for the young’uns who might get scared at the crashes we’ve already seen hinted at in the trailer. But it also gives the teenagers an excuse to go see the movie; “I had to take my younger brother/sister.” Trust me, this works. I got in to the Pokemon movie this way when I was a teenager, full of pride, etc.
Of course, for us adults, we’re not actually stressed about what people think of us anymore, but the PG rating does at least offer us some level of excuse.