My son Oliver has two favorite movies; Despicable Me 2, and The Lego Movie. He watches one of them everyday, can quote any scene from either film, and talks about them constantly. Oliver has seen Planes in theaters, and loves both Cars movies. I watched Up with him recently, and we cried together. At the risk of sounding like some geriatric Mylanta addict, kids these days have it so much better than we did.
I know kids today sexually mature quicker, the drugs are far more deadly than ever and our government now watches us pee, but I had animated movies like Ferngully when I was a child. Have you ever brought a piece of childhood nostalgia back into your life as an adult only to realize how awful it is? It's like finally meeting your childhood idol, and Bo Jackson just punches you in the stomach. Ferngully is one of those punches. Sure, we had good animated movies in the 90s, The Brave Little Toaster, The Iron Giant, An American Tale, but have you seen modern animated films? The Toy Story series has been nominated for an Oscar, and had anything similar to The Incredibles existed when I was young my nerdy little brain would have exploded.
Sometimes I worry about my kids growing up not appreciating the things I do. Sure, I want them to be passionate little liberals like me who love Tolkien and Star Trek way way way too much, but I don't want them to have to sit through Rock a Doodle. Movies aimed at kids are far better than they ever have been, so fellow parents, stop pushing Ninja Turtles or Fraggle Rock on your disinterested children and watch one of their movies with them. You'll like it a lot more, I promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment