All I can say is that I am deeply regretting my choice to take my kids to this movie. My sources at Entertainment Weekly made me believe that this movie was like Alice in Wonderland or Narnia, but they were severely wrong. We saw the movie while weekending in Vegas *again*. It was showing in 3-d and I KNEW that Bracken would enjoy it. I had heard that this "A" movie was "charming", "thrilling" and "magical" so I was excited to share it with them.Worst mistake of parenting yet.
Worse than the time I left Bracken alone with sunscreen. Worse than leaving a sleeping baby on the couch and having them fall off. Worse than being the reason Ema has been tardy for Kindergarten 4 times. I took them to this movie.
If you would like me to spoil the movie for you and tell you the many gory details that freaked them out, email me. I will only tell you that Bracken screamed in the middle "I DON'T WANT TO WATCH THIS MOVIE", which woke up my snoring Father-in-law next to him. And Ema shed many tears, made me hold her, hid her face and begged to leave.
Which we did. And then they had nightmares. Both of them, last night were thrashing. Ema didn't fall asleep until 1 am and keeps remembering images of the "button eyes".I was angry about this and checked out a few websites that I usually check before taking my kids to movies and it seems like I am not the only mother who heard good things about this movie, only to be mortified by watching it.
Moral of the story?
Don't trust Entertainment Weekly's reviews on children's shows.
My grade? D (and that's being kind. Coming from a mother who is still trying to get her kids to sleep without crying!)
For those of you who are looking for good websites to give you family friendly reviews I will post the links below.
Common Sense Media - gives reviews for movies, t.v, books, etc. Gives ratings and age guidelines.
Kids in Mind - gives a rating on content for sex/violence/language on a scale from 1-10. We don't see anything above a 4 or 5 on sex and language, but we go up to a 7 on violence to include the Harry Potter movies and Superhero flicks.
Jesus Freak Hideout - Very funny name, but they are SERIOUS when it comes to their reviews. Most of their reviews will give away a lot of detail in shows, so I would only look here if you NEED to know what's in the movie.
These are the sites I use, does anyone else have any that they like?
4 comments:
I feel horrible for you!! What a nightmare! I already knew that this was going to be a scary movie since I read the book, and as an adult it scared me. Can hardly imagine the fear it provoked in your kiddies. So sorry! Thank you for sharing your websites though to check out movies. It is very frustrating trying to discern whether or not a movie is truly kid friendly. Thanks for the heads up, hope the kids get to feeling better. Wishing you all happier dreams, Moana
That is so awful!!! I had a friend also tell me how horrible this show was and how glad she was that she didn't take her kids. I'm glad to hear the review from you and hope your kids soon forget those images!!!
Alicia, we started reading this book in the 4th grade class I was student teaching in, but had to stop because the kids were just too scared. One girl was having nightmares about it too. I personally would have loved to finish the book, but don't know how anyone can classify it as children's lit or movie! Hope your poor kiddies don't remember it too much longer, poor things!
I'm so glad you posted about this movie. Taylor has been bugging me to take him to see it and I am glad I found out what kind of movie it was before we went. You should seriously consider being a movie critic :)
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