Tom Koegel
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1997
- Messages
- 95
It's very hard to predict what small children will find scary or not. My son (age 5) is a complete Star Wars nut, and is fascinated by Darth Vader--but he begs me to skip the part of the Thomas the Tank Engine Movie with the "scary diesel". Go figure. If you asked me, the scariest part of that movie is the very pudgy Alec Baldwin as the conductor. (Although Didi Conn as the station manager and Peter Fonda as the grownup-boy-who-loved-trains-but-now-seems-to-be-clinically-depressed are plenty scary, too.)
My son loves the Iron Giant, and I have to say that (next to the Toy Story movies) I find it one of the best children's movies of all times--an inspired combination of a serious message and great entertainment. Like some other films in discussion around here, it didn't find an audience--a bit too scary, and too deep, for little kids, I suspect it wasn't "cool" enough for bigger kids. Not enough senseless violence, I suppose. I also suspect some on the conservative side of the religious/political spectrum would not be keen on the film's "you are who you choose to be" message. Also, young children are likely to be disturbed by the culmination of the plot in the military sending a nuke after the Iron Giant--and through error targeting the town.
The video and audio quality are extremely good, with some good surround effects when the Giant discovers he can fly.
I found Wallace & Gromit laugh out loud hilarious. The video quality is fine, if one keeps in mind that these were shot for exhibition on the BBC and (I suspect) the first was probably done on a shoestring budget. I can't say as I noticed a difference between the original DVD release and the new one, which has a few extras not included on the original. The audio is only passable. I believe the first feature may have been recorded in mono, while I noticed stereo effects in at least one (maybe the last two). In terms of content, the first film (A Grand Day Out) is completely innocuous, the story of Wallace's efforts to reach the moon to obtain a resupply of his favorite comestible, cheese. The second (The Wrong Trousers), involves a lodger taken in by Wallace and Gromit who turns out to be a penguin gone bad. The film is a wicked sendup of/homage to any number of heist movies. There is a bit of cartoon gunplay (no one gets hurt) and when my son first saw it (age 3) he found the jewel heist scene almost too suspenseful. The third film is potentially the scariest, and is in part a dead on parody of (believe it or not) The Terminator. As with all the films, no one gets hurt--with the exception of the cyborg
--and it is even more outrageously funny if you get the Terminator reference.
Other kid friendly flicks that haven't been discussed are all the classic musicals. The Sound of Music is too cloying for some--I've always had a warm spot in my heart for it--but one movie I had no memory of from my childhood, and which seems sensational to me now, is The Music Man. It's a sensational disc from Warner as well, and the source material has a more sophisticated sense of humor about it that adults may find more pleasing.
My son loves the Iron Giant, and I have to say that (next to the Toy Story movies) I find it one of the best children's movies of all times--an inspired combination of a serious message and great entertainment. Like some other films in discussion around here, it didn't find an audience--a bit too scary, and too deep, for little kids, I suspect it wasn't "cool" enough for bigger kids. Not enough senseless violence, I suppose. I also suspect some on the conservative side of the religious/political spectrum would not be keen on the film's "you are who you choose to be" message. Also, young children are likely to be disturbed by the culmination of the plot in the military sending a nuke after the Iron Giant--and through error targeting the town.
The video and audio quality are extremely good, with some good surround effects when the Giant discovers he can fly.
I found Wallace & Gromit laugh out loud hilarious. The video quality is fine, if one keeps in mind that these were shot for exhibition on the BBC and (I suspect) the first was probably done on a shoestring budget. I can't say as I noticed a difference between the original DVD release and the new one, which has a few extras not included on the original. The audio is only passable. I believe the first feature may have been recorded in mono, while I noticed stereo effects in at least one (maybe the last two). In terms of content, the first film (A Grand Day Out) is completely innocuous, the story of Wallace's efforts to reach the moon to obtain a resupply of his favorite comestible, cheese. The second (The Wrong Trousers), involves a lodger taken in by Wallace and Gromit who turns out to be a penguin gone bad. The film is a wicked sendup of/homage to any number of heist movies. There is a bit of cartoon gunplay (no one gets hurt) and when my son first saw it (age 3) he found the jewel heist scene almost too suspenseful. The third film is potentially the scariest, and is in part a dead on parody of (believe it or not) The Terminator. As with all the films, no one gets hurt--with the exception of the cyborg
--and it is even more outrageously funny if you get the Terminator reference.
Other kid friendly flicks that haven't been discussed are all the classic musicals. The Sound of Music is too cloying for some--I've always had a warm spot in my heart for it--but one movie I had no memory of from my childhood, and which seems sensational to me now, is The Music Man. It's a sensational disc from Warner as well, and the source material has a more sophisticated sense of humor about it that adults may find more pleasing.
