Jack Black became a comedy hero to my sons when they saw School of Rock. Read my Parents’ Choice posting to find out why it’s a rockin’ way to help your kids start the school year. Here’s an excerpt: “So why is this proper inspiration for your children to want to return to school? Eventually, Finn discovers the kids actually play music, so he switches from talking about others playing rock to showing them how to play it themselves in a collective effort (aka, a band). Simply put, the film is about a teacher taking what inspires him, then finding the unique voices within his students.”
My wife got us in to a preview of Despicable Me, which Universal Studios will release nationwide on July 9. The trailer of the warring villains — Gru is voiced by Steve Carell and Vector is Jason Segel — was long on gimmicks but short on evidence of a story. The film itself is mostly sight gags and a barrage of clever lines until Gru meets three orphan children who significantly influence Gru’s plan to steal the moon. From then on, Despicable Me shows how Gru (Carell lends marvelous nuance to the character) evolves from an annoyed caretaker to an attentive father. This film belongs in acategory with The Incredibles for depicting parenting better than almost any live-action movie. With such a solid story and great voice performances, the 3D seemed superfluous. Touching and very, very funny.
I’m still hoping to see some grown-up films now that a bunch of promising ones are in theaters. I did see Michael Clayton a few weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed by George Clooney’s performance and the careful craftsmanship of writer/director Tony Gilroy. But my family managed to cram in two movies on this Thanksgiving day. One was the new Walt Disney picture, Enchanted, which is hugely entertaining. This fairy tale satire, with its mix of live action and 2-D animation, really does hit its marks with all age levels. Amy Adams is luminous and pitch perfect as a the princess who lands in New York City. After a good turkey dinner with family, we all piled into my sister- and brother-in-laws living room to watch Ratatouille. Writer/director Brad Bird, who also made The Incredibles and the under-appreciated Iron Giant, is fast becoming one of the masters of modern film. This movie has more realistic emotion and storytelling texture than 99% of the live-action flicks being made. Funny, gorgeous to look at, and positively delectable.
The Walt Disney Co. announced today that it will ban smoking in its family-targeted, Disney-branded films and will “discourage” the depiction of smoking in its Touchstone and Miramax motion pictures (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072501051.html). I will be joining a panel of commentators on FOX News Channel, this Saturday (July 28) at 11:48 am PST/2:48 pm EST, to discuss whether Disney is going too far in coddling children and hiding the dangers of real life from them. Other questions include whether there might not be better ways to keep our kids from smoking.
I’ve got some more thinking to do, but my initial thoughts are that this is a positive step. Movies and TV tend to glamorize smoking and refraining from showing actors looking cool with the smoke curling from their lips could help prevent children from taking on this unhealthy habit. For decades, the tobacco industry has benefited from the free advertising of film and TV characters smoking away. There are also the findings from organizations such as the nonprofit American Legacy Foundation, which found that kids with “the highest exposure to smoking in movies were nearly three times as likely to start smoking.”
It is important to identify the slippery slope of Disney’s ban in that it can interfere with artistic license. I’m not sure how I feel about grown-up branded movies not showing smoking if that is somehow inherent to a character. However, it has been frequently noted that movie stars, like the forever stylish Humphrey Bogart, inspired people to smoke by puffing away on the silver screen.
I’d really like to hear your feedback on this issue as I try to consider all the angles.
On billboards around Los Angeles, including one that looms above a kid-filled Farmer’s Market on Sundays, is a poster for the new movie Captivity, with four panels which graphically depict a young woman in the states of ‘Abduction,” ‘Confinement,’ ‘Torture,’ and ‘Termination.’ Whatever my own personal tolerance is for horror movies, what matters is the effect on children. Countless kids are getting exposed to these images (which are also on New York City cabs), which can (and probably do) cause children nightmares and a sense of anxiousness about the world they just don’t need. Lionsgate and After Dark Films, who have partnered to put out the movie, claim that the ads were not the ones chosen for the marketing campaign and were mistakenly put up, but they — and others — still bear responsibility. Isn’t it possible to drum up enough business for these violent flicks without catching children in the net?
This is a topic that keeps coming up (http://www.familymanonline.com/?p=31) because those advertising horror films just do not seem to take into account the effect of even brief glimpses of these ad can generate in young minds. Parents are and must continue to pressure the powers that be (movie studios, billboard companies, city political representatives) to choose less harmful means to get the word out about their films. If you want to read more about this particular billboard, and the reaction to it, check out columnist Steve Lopez’s piece in the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez18mar18,1,2190267.column?ctrack=1&cset=true).
In the aftermath of Halloween, I’m still thinking about all of those scary movie posters touting the horror films that are rushed out for the season. It’s not the only time frightfests are marketed — and amusement-park billboards for Halloween events should be included in this discussion — but I’m just wondering if parents should be speaking out more to discourage the advertisements that feature teeth ripped from tortured heads (from Saw III) and depictions of terrified women being held down by a grimy male hand (from The Hills Have Eyes, released earlier in the year)?
Look, I still cling to most of my feelings that the media should not be so heavily blamed for the way our children behave, but I do think that marketers should show some consideration for what children see while driving in the backseats of cars. I know that many teens and adults love to be scared and are effectively prompted to see horror movies based on the ads, but younger kids are getting truly spooked by the posters and billboards. One friend of my son’s was traumatized by that eerie ad from Silent Hill, last spring. His parents try to keep him from seeing anything else like that, but it’s nearly impossible with media coverage the way it is.
I’ve written about this topic before (see http://www.familymanonline.com/columns.php?id=6) and do respect the realities of the marketplace. Yet, would it be possible to ask marketers to restrict these horror ads to grown-up magazines and TV after 9pm (understanding that some kids still might see them)? I would just like to see the ads a bit less accessible.
For now, I’m limiting my discussion of advertising to horror movies because making horror acceptable to our kids is the most disturbing pattern. Still, sexualized ads and ads with guns blazing are also disconcerting. Mind you, I don’t want to legislate against any of this. I just want to stir up a bit more discussion, which might lead to influence that will result in making these elements less available to my young children. Any thoughts and suggestions on this topic would be much appreciated.
While it definitely earns the ‘R’ rating with plenty of raw language and lifestyle issues that may make some adults uncomfortable, Little Miss Sunshine is the funniest, freshest film I’ve seen in a good long time. I belly-laughed throughout the movie, particularly in the outrageous climactic scene. And yet, without ever getting syrupy, the story shows how families connect, despite radical personality differences.
Little Miss Sunshine (http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine/) is a ‘road comedy’ in which a little girl named Olive (played without affectation by Abigail Breslin) wins a spot in a beauty contest and heads to California with her eccentric family. Generations collide with a grandpa (the brilliant Alan Arkin) who gives questionable advice to Olive’s silent and surly teenage brother (Paul Dano). Despite the efforts of a tirelessly open-minded mom (Toni Collette), things get even more tense between her her wannabe motivational guru husband (Greg Kinnear), who can’t get along with her brother, a suicidal, gay Proust professor (Steve Carrell, showing remarkable range and wry humor).
Written by Michael Arndt and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film gained raves at the Sundance Film Festival and has ridden a VW-bus of buzz into a handful of theaters. Enhanced by a cool soundtrack, the movie has the chance to open wider and become a sleeper hit well worth a grown-up night out. If anything, it tells parents that, if you can laugh at the chaos, you can still have a loving family.
