Just this past weekend, I took my 4 year old daughter to her first movie in a theater. I think I was more excited than she was, sneaking in the perfect snacks (fruit leather and juice boxes), picking the perfect seats (the one and only time I encourage picking seats), and selecting the perfect movie (or so I thought). Turns out Disney’s UP! is a real downer.
I’ll save the plot for those who are even later in the game than we are to catching the latest Pixar flick (It came out in May, being a Mom leaves me a TAD behind), but let’s just say that I was in a row full of three dads and their kids and I was the only one NOT sobbing uncontrollably within the first ten minutes. I used my contraband snack laden purse to stifle my cries. The trauma: think Finding Nemo’s traumatic opening times ten. Now much of the seriousness went over my daughter’s head, and she was more concerned with when we were going to get popcorn then why all the grownups were gasping and blubbering. I was truly unprepared for this, though.
All in all, I thought it was a good movie. I’m sure some age group of children could appreciate the serious themes and the silly jokes, but I still think that the movie was written by adults, for adults. And though I’ve always been a Disney girl, through and through, I think I may appreciate the Shrek approach to kids’ movies more: make the plot line for kids, but throw the grownups a comedic, pop culture referencing bone once in awhile. Sure, there will always be villains in kids’ movies that I’ll have to ward off, be it a wicked queen or a evil prince, but at least they won’t be real issues that are harder to tackle, like death and grief. Let’s hope I don’t have to talk about those for a long time to come.
As I used my last Kleenex while leaving the theater, I promised my daughter that I’d make it up to her by taking her to The Princess and the Frog, when Disney releases it on December 11th. Without missing a beat, my daughter piped up, “Can we get popcorn?”
As long as one of the main characters doesn’t die in the first 10 minutes.
Comments
Kim
September 26th, 2009 - 2:36:08 AM
I totally agree with you. It was a bit of a downer for a movie. My husband took me to see this movie as I like to watch animated movies. The part where you learn a bit of the back story of the old man was a bit much for me especially being that we had been struggling with infertility for two years and had suffered a miscarriage a few months before. That part of the story was a bit much to handle. I find that Disney animated movies like to create a range of emotion but that was a bit too much for me and not needed for a movie that was targeted to kids even if it was "over their heads."
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freaky flickers
October 4th, 2009 - 10:03:14 PM
Build upon your child's interests. Consider purchasing programs for their repeatability factor. As with reading books again and again, children like to view favorite movies over too. Their imaginations are stretched and new information is learned and integrated into their lives.
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