Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Good for You, Richard

Disney movies have been a hot topic of conversation for us over the last couple of days. My niece is fond of Cinderella and the rest of the princesses, my nephew, on the other hand, is not a fan of any of the animated features: at four and a half, he knows enough about plot conventions to be sure something bad is going to happen, and worrying about it makes him too anxious to enjoy the movie. He's afraid to be afraid.

You have to admit he's got a point. Those old Disney movies scared the crap out of me, especially Maleficent, the witch who turns into a dragon in Sleeping Beauty and Cruella DeVille in 101 Dalmations. The relatively more recent ones have some pretty tough scenes as well, think Mufasa's death in The Lion King or Ursula's final attack in The Little Mermaid, and continuing in that tradition, the newest Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, has scary voodoo and includes the death of a lovable character.

Strong stuff for a little kid, and how cool that my nephew knows he's not ready for it.

1 comment:

  1. Kids seem surprisingly adept at making really good decisions for themselves about their limits. Rebecca has always been very protective of herself - and reluctant to see any movie that would cause nightmares!

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