June 2, 2017
Movies || On Inappropriate Moments in Kids' Films
As a movie lover, watching animated or meant-for-kids movies was always a joy for me. I didn't even mind it when I rewatched films from my childhood and gasped at the realisation that something was more than it seemed. But lately puns and innuendos in children's films are becoming vastly inappropriate. Or is it just me?My pet peeve at the moment are the live-action reboots of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. In the first film, in the first second the turtles meet April O' Neal, Michaelangelo makes a wildly tasteless - and nonsensical - comment about his shell tightening, then tells her that even though they're teenagers they can still have 'adult conversations', adding they should be friends with her because her friends may be hot. Ugh. Throughout both films, his constant pestering, hitting on, under-the-breath commentary is simply too much. Michaelangelo's sexual objectification of April is just slimy and uncomfortable and it ruins the entire movie (Not that it needed that much to ruin it, though). And don't even get me started on the fact that the screenwriters took a strong-minded and independent character like April O'Neal and practically turned her into nothing other than eye candy.
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Rude adult jokes are the order of the day, as many YouTube videos can attest to. Many obvious moments abound: from Buzz Lightyear's wingpop in 'Toy Story 2' and Mr Potatohead's quip that 'no one takes his wife's mouth but him' in 'Toy Story 3' to Miguel and Chel's alone time in 'The Road to El Dorado', Humpty Dumpty referring to prison rape in 'Puss in Boots' and Alex the lion charging at Melman's bottom with a long tree trunk in 'Madagascar' to Anna and Kristoff talking about Hans' foot size in 'Frozen', some innuendo is harmless, but the references have become more blatant. Or is it just me?
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I feel as though movie makers are really underestimating the adults and children who watch these films. Adults are entertained by much more than sex and 'bewbs'. It may be a large drawcard to television series like 'Game of Thrones', 'Black Sails', and 'Westworld', but when it comes to kids' films we are mainly looking for either some innocent entertainment to give us a breather with clever 'inside' jokes that we don't have to explain to our children or at how the film teaches our children about life. That is why parents mostly allow their children to watch movies: as opportunities for learning.
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' is certainly still a story about leadership and family and helping others, but while trying to be funny to entertain us poor dumbed-down parents in a film, a mediocre storyline won't be improved by lewd jokes.
{Image credit: By Evert F. Baumgardner [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}
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