Cartoon movies. . .child appropriate?

Question

In regards to movies such as "Ice Age," (1 &2), "Rugrats," "Sponge Bob," "Cars," and the new movie coming out "The Monster House."

Why do they continually gear and garner these movies to attract child audiences when they are highly profane, explicit, and inappropriate? But, more importantly, why do we continue to take our children to and allow them to watch such movies?

Example: The new movie "Monster House," has a trail out that delves into the houses anatomy. The female protagonists notices that it's splintered woodened gap must be its mouth, the houses rug is its tongue, and the chandelier is its uvula. One of the male protagonists states. . "Oh, so it's a girl house. . ."

Tongue. . . vagina. . .see the connection. . .

Just plain DIRTY.

Question: Do you take your children to see these types of movies? If you do, do you see harm in it? And, if you don't, why not?

trailer. . not trail. . sorry

Well, I have a six year old. And, we went to go see Ice Age 2, there is a part in the movie where some character suggests that "Manny" and the female save their species from extinction. . .some sexual reference. . . My daughter wanted me to explain.

I'm not attributing this to anything in particular, just noticing that children are alot more keen then we assume. I don't have a "dirty" mind as suggested, but I do have plenty sense. . . And, I am not making these things up, for one.

I realize that these jokes are there for the purpose of the adult, but I take my child to a movie so that they may be entertained, and I'm typically tickled from watching her laugh. I don't feel these things have any places in movies, just asking what other people thought.

I happen to know what a uvula is, considering I am in the medical profession. But, I thought it was an ode to oral sex. etc.

Answer 1

I do understand exactly where you are coming from. I cannot turn on the t.v. these days without there being a reference to sex in some way or another.

My kids, aged 12, 9 and 3, love watching The Simpson's, but I must admit it is geared more towards adult entertainment, but it's a cartoon so try telling them that. I would be the worst mother in the world if I were to dare turn over to something more appropriate.

Yes, children's films are becoming more daring as time goes by but at the end of the day, we will still take our little monsters to watch them and we will put up with the questions and answer them as best they can.

That is probably one of the reasons kids are not kids anymore. They know more that we do nowadays thanks to 'kids t.v.'

Answer 2

Most of it (hopefully) will go over your kids' heads. A lot of movies these days try to put in humor for the adults so that they wont get bored when they watch it with their children. I'd just stick to the classics like Snow White, Dumbo, Aladdin, Lion King and the like. And as for the claims that you can see the word "SEX" in the dust for less than a second doing a scene, anyone who can see that is just looking way too close. Also young children shouldn't spend that much time in front of a screen at all. More time should be spent outside, running around and with people. This helps children stay more healthy and to form connections to people.

Answer 3

i think the question is this....why are YOU the adult reading all the "are highly profane, explicit, and inappropriate" things into it.
a five year old wont understand that type of reasoning's unless an adult has provided said child with the information and knowledge of the "connection" you say is there.

second....maybe your mind is in the gutter just a bit.

third...i NEVER take my children to a movie i have not viewed first, and there have been PLENTY I've opted to keep my kids from. i just think we are getting a bit freaked out, about things that were obviously added to these "children's movies" to entertain our bored butts while we are there with our kids, however....I've yet to hear a 4-9 yr old turn to their mother and say, "oh my mother, why on earth would they be making such a suggestive remark like that...don't they know my little sis is watching!?"

Answer 4

Since me and my hubby are Christian, I screen stuff pretty good. I don't want junior coming home, belching at the dinner table like Spongebob and thinking it's cute...because it's not. Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of goofs and laughs, but that's just rude and disrespectful. I'm sure many would argue. To each his/her own.

In any event, I've found pluggedinonline's website to be very helpful in giving me a head's up to the content of these movies. They tell you about any vulgarities, sexual innuendos and references to J.C. or God in a negative light (since it's a Christian site). If you're not Christian, you can forget that part and ignore it's conservative angle. But, it is a helpful resource for getting a very accurate description of content before paying the $8 for your kid to learn what a vulva is and share it with their Sunday school class next week.

It's getting increasingly difficult to teach our kids about manners, bad language, etc. when it seems like the whole world is not only partaking, but calling those who don't prudes or buzz-kills. You're not cool if you don't drop f-bombs in every sentence. We're a minority, it seems. And, unfortunately, all we can do is continue to fight the battle uphill, monitor what comes into our homes vigilantly and don't see the ones that are unacceptable.

P.S. THe uvula is the hangy-thing in the back of your throat. If the door was the mouth and the tongue was a rug, chances are...they were talking about the hangy-thing. I don't think that was any reference to the vulva (in the vagina). THAT may be a misunderstanding. I think Monster House looks like a cute movie, actually.

Answer 5

I agree with you. Some cartoons are just not for kids. The adult humor is not appropriate in them. I use focus on the family's plugged in site to check out what is in the movies, then decide from there if I want to let my kids go. Also using a site like this helps older kids understand about ratings. My teens now look up movies themselves and often don't even ask to see them if the review showed sexual content or nudity and violence.

Answer 6

They may be gearing these movies towards children, but they are still rated on the scale from G (general audiences) to R (restricted viewing under 17). The parents who take the children to these movies may or may not know the ratiings placed on them, just what they've seen from the t.v. comercials and trailers.
Animated movies usually tend to be towards children though, so if I saw a trailer for an animated film, I'd assume it's appropriate for kids. But all of the movies you listed except for cars and monster house (which I haven't seen) are all apropriate for kids, and are rated G. What's wrong with them?

Answer 7

Kids do not pick up these jokes. Those are intended for us adults that are forced to sit through them too! Like in Shrek...there were a lot of jokes included in that cartoon that my daughter didn't understand (that I found funny) it's one of the reasons its so entertaining for both kids AND adults. But my daughter didn't get any of the things I laughed at. (I know cause she kept saying, "what's so funny?")

Also you need to look at the ratings for the movies too. There's a difference between G & PG. That's why PG stands for Parental Guidance. Those movies might not be appropriate for younger kids.

Answer 8

Our world is just changing so rapidly, the movies are trying desperately to keep up. Yes, they are trying to entertain both the child and adult chaperone, and, in my opinion, nothing in the movies you mentioned is shocking enough that it can't be reasonably explained to a child. Just chalk the experiences up to the fact that life today is moving so much faster than it was when we were little and the Brady Bunch was enough to keep us afloat.

Answer 9

Some of them are not the best for children and even older children to be watching, I think they also want the adults to get a laugh in too and make it so that even older children (around 14+) can have some fun watching the video too.

Answer 10

no no no...when she says uvula.. he is probably thinking of a urethra...im sorry that you fell that movies are becoming so bad...if you hate them that much then just tie your child down in your basement and dont expose them to anything until their thirty... to tell you the truth ur kid is gonna learn things and you are not gonna no about it so...its ok to just let a little slip every once in a while...