From my blog at www.seacoastparentsconnect.com
So, we watched an alleged children’s movie with Willie this weekend and I’m sort of wondering if it was a bit too soon. Disney movies aren’t as sweet as they used to be I guess. Or I guess I never paid as much attention to age appropriate material and expressions and how they might be misconstrued by little ones. And I have also realized that children’s movies are no longer made just for children, but their parents as well. Have you noticed how many jokes in kid’s movies these days are really adult jokes, almost thrown in to make the adults feel like they too can enjoy a day at the movie with kids? We watched the Cars movie a few weeks back and I hate to admit, as an adult, I kind of liked it. Even my husband said, “That’s a pretty good movie….. for a cartoon.”
The latest movie event goes back to Christmas when Willie’s godfather Al gave him one of those singing cards. The card had Shrek on it and sang that “Hey now you’re an all-star” song made popular in the movie. Since then, the card has become worn, the song has worn out, but Willie continues to carry it with him everywhere. I thought it might be cute to let him watch some of the movie.
And so I headed out to Blockbuster in Stratham, rented it, and returned home for our big movie event.
Ok, so in the first five minutes there are a few off-color type jokes that are made, but I felt like they would have gone right over most kids’ heads. It seemed like they were almost geared toward the parents. But we carried on until the scary men with flaming pitch forks came to kill Shrek.
Fast forward.
We did okay until Shrek and his little Eddie Murphy donkey sidekick got to the castle to rescue the princess from the dragon--big scary flame breathing dragon.
Fast forward.
Okay, again until the Robin Hood guy comes and gets into a kung fu match with the princess.
Fast forward again.
Luckily, it seems that little kids don’t seem to notice all of these fast forwards, which you can make up a story about, like, ‘oh something was wrong with the DVD player’ and they buy it.
We made it through the movie, with many fast forwards, and I was starting to wonder if I had completely traumatized Willie.
He was fine, though obsessed with saying “Shreek” over and over again. And he has also taken to walking around the house with big exaggerated steps and saying in a deep voice, “I’m the bad king” before he gives off a “hahaha” evil laugh.
I think the Shrek video is going back tomorrow. But it got me wondering how many more of these so-called children’s movies I will have to fast forward through. I’m not saying they’re bad movies. But do we need to have a pre-screening of movies with the adults before we decide if they’re ok to show the kids?
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