With the summer movie season officially starting this weekend, I bring you this new occasional feature: Summer Movie Traffic Cop, which will provide some guidance about whether certain blockbusters make appropriate fare for your kids.

Our first "offender" is "Iron Man," a good, old-fashioned, smashy-crashy blockbuster featuring a tremendous star turn by Robert Downey Jr. It arrives in theaters tomorrow and is worth seeing, but can you bring your kids? After catching a preview screening earlier this week, I offer the following traffic cop breakdown:

'Iron Man's' Summer Movie Traffic Violations: 

--Lots of people catching on fire.

--Numerous explosions, several in a wartime environment.

--More than a few casualties. 

--The presence of Muslim terrorists who, albeit not overly gratuitously, torture our hero and others.

--A Vanity Fair reporter, played by Leslie Bibb, with little sense of journalistic ethics and a slight tendency toward the slutty. (Most of the love scenes are kept off screen, though).

Reasons to Let 'Iron Man' Off With a Warning: 

--There is no nudity and little sexually explicit material. While Downey's Tony Stark is a player, the romance in the movie is pretty chaste.

--The language is relatively clean. While many actual bombs are dropped, I don't recall hearing any f-bombs.

--The movie's overall message -- that weapons manufacturing and war are dirty businesses -- is a positive one, but may fly over most kids' heads.

Final Ruling:

The biggest issue with the movie is the overall violence, which isn't overly bloody or gory but is definitely intense. And that means:

A Red Light for Kids 7 and Under

A Yellow Light -- Proceed With Caution -- for Kids in the 8 to 9 Range

A Green Light for Most Viewers 10 and Older

Image: Paramount Pictures