Took the Kidlet to see WALL-E last night. It received an enthusiastic four thumbs up from the two of us. The trailers didn't give us much to go on except that it's a movie about a cute anthropomorhised robot who fall is love. It's actually a very clever meditation on our consumer culture, gluttony, and stewardship that manages to move its audience without being preachy. One of my favorite moments actually took place during the closing credits when Peter Gabriel's contribution to the soundtrack unwound it's lush, swoon-y goodness. (this is an unauthorized video, sorry I could find the track itself to embed- lyrics are in the description box- song is available on itunes)
On the off chance that the showing we wanted to see was sold out, I decided to check my favorite movie site to see the ratings on some other films of interest. Back when Kiddo was an infant, a friend of mine sent me two websites designed for parents who want to research movies before screening them for their kids. Now as much as we love these people, we know that they are staunch Calvinists so I usually take a deep breath before going to sites they recommend. Our religious (and most social views) couldn't be more different, but we all adore one another on a thousand levels that have nothing to do with our personal beliefs about gay marriage.
The first of the two sites I found very... preachy. Imagine Mandy Moore from Saved! writing movie reviews. SO not for us. However, the second site Kids in Mind was a different story. It lists in exacting and excruciating detail every possibly questionable scenario played out on screen and leaves it to the parents to decide what they think. For example, Kiddo loves Ann Hathaway- she thought her performance in Brokeback Mountain was vapid, but adored Princess Diaries- so I was thinking of taking her to see Get Smart. After looking at the details (and you have to be content with spoiler alerts on this site) I decided it wasn't anything I wanted her to see; not the nudity and violence, necessarily, but because of the name calling, specifically "retard and whore." (and no I didn't really let my kid watch Brokeback Mountain. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
After I checked out Wall-E, I looked at the review of Sex and the City. Heh.
On the off chance that the showing we wanted to see was sold out, I decided to check my favorite movie site to see the ratings on some other films of interest. Back when Kiddo was an infant, a friend of mine sent me two websites designed for parents who want to research movies before screening them for their kids. Now as much as we love these people, we know that they are staunch Calvinists so I usually take a deep breath before going to sites they recommend. Our religious (and most social views) couldn't be more different, but we all adore one another on a thousand levels that have nothing to do with our personal beliefs about gay marriage.
The first of the two sites I found very... preachy. Imagine Mandy Moore from Saved! writing movie reviews. SO not for us. However, the second site Kids in Mind was a different story. It lists in exacting and excruciating detail every possibly questionable scenario played out on screen and leaves it to the parents to decide what they think. For example, Kiddo loves Ann Hathaway- she thought her performance in Brokeback Mountain was vapid, but adored Princess Diaries- so I was thinking of taking her to see Get Smart. After looking at the details (and you have to be content with spoiler alerts on this site) I decided it wasn't anything I wanted her to see; not the nudity and violence, necessarily, but because of the name calling, specifically "retard and whore." (and no I didn't really let my kid watch Brokeback Mountain. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
After I checked out Wall-E, I looked at the review of Sex and the City. Heh.
After a long hiatus, I'm back to blogging at my new site: www.intothesilentwater.blogspot.com and www.thankastranger.blogspot.com Come on over!
LOVE Peter Gabriel. So thank you for the review and the little gift of Peter! Good to see you back.
Posted by: margalit | June 28, 2008 at 10:39 PM