Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Learn from my mistakes.
If you want to teach your child about the uglier human emotions -- rage, jealousy, grief, fury, humiliation, loneliness -- and watch a bunch of bitter, clinically depressed monsters destroy things for 90 minutes, then for sure you should pay $25 or so to see this film. If, on the other hand, you don't think your six-year-old is ready to see a little kid throwing temper tantrums because he can't deal with his dysfunctional family and you aren't ready to explain why people sometimes behave like animals, you should stay home and pop A Bug's Life in the DVD player.
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11 comments:
does this mean I am NOT the only who is horrified that they took an imaginative, open-ended little book and locked it up with a back story and live actors?
Of course, I refuse to see it after being annoyed by the commercials, so I can't really criticize too much.
Out of curiosity, what did you think about Up! as a children's movie?
No question, though I didn't even consider actually taking the Little Anachronism -- We're too busy reading Lloyd Alexander and watching our new Alvin and the Chipmonks DVD -- from the very first, the film looked like an exercise in adult Id, not an actual children's experience. And I'm fundamentally opposed to taking short, wonderful stories and bloating them up to 90 minutes because they've got some marketing hook.....
I'd heard that the movie was very depressing, and not really meant for small ones. I'm glad I have a heads-up from you, as well.
This is a shame. I love the book to pieces.
Or Nemo!
Now now. Calm down. The book is just wonderful. We read it to our son approx. a zillion times. We laughed at the monsters (usually reading "Go away, big green monster" as a second course) and there is such a comforting ending - after Max is angry, he is still loved by his mommy and gets dinner.
I haven't seen the film yet, but it is on my list because we loved the book.
Yes, it does not sound like a good movie for six-year-olds. But I think it looks perfect for my 12-year-old who is entering the time of life where she will be filled with all the emotions you named and a slew more. If we can give her a better handle on them by seeing the film ("How are you feeling today?" "A lot like Judith did when..." "And you remember how she dealt with...?") well, I will take every advantage I can get when the teenage years are less than six months away.
I made the same mistake with my four year-old. Oops! That was one disturbing movie.
The book is better than the film 9,999 times out of 10,000. Lloyd Alexander's Book of Three, for example.
Lloyd Alexander rocks.
>Bardiac said...
> Or Nemo!
I can't watch Nemo myself (and I'm a 'grownup')...I was horrified that such a traumatic beginning was part of a general children's movie...
I like the book and the movie, though they should hardly be compared--they really are whole different projects. I would humour showing the film to a child (for the exact reasons you list), but, mind you, I don't have children.
I do however, think that the movie has a more impressive message than the book (which hardly has any): even fuct up people are human, it's human to have trouble dealing with that, and we all have a little monster in all of us ;)
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