"Happy Feet"

[Christ's Free Servant]

A line has to be drawn somewhere.

I Soooooo agree with you!! Jesus definitely drew lines in the sand when it came to immorality, idolatry and godlessness - all of which are in this animated feature film.

[Christ's Free Servant]

Rated G or PG does not necessarily mean for children. I try to check this website before trusting Hollywood to entertain my children in theaters.

http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/...pyfeet2006.html

The site says Happy Feet was offensive! Glad I did not go see it. However I heard that Flicka was a good childrens movie. It gets a "Good" rating from Christian Answers website.

Thank you so much!! I checked out the site, and it was great! If you scroll down past the review, there are tons of readers opinions about the movie listed by "positive", "neutral," and "negative." It was very informative, and a good way to check out a movie before going to see it.

My d-i-l asked me to check out "Ice Age 2" and "Flushed Away," and I'm glad we did, because they both had adult themes/language in them, as well. There is a lot of discussion on this site about how children's animated films are no longer for the children, but they are appealing to the adults. It is sad!

[Guest Biblicist]

You are very welcome for the info CFS!

If you care to get very technical about your movie selection you could also check out

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

This is a site that has nothing to do with what someone thought of the movie it just lists all, and I do mean all, of the "infractions" every movie has to offer. Even just a smooch between husband and wife, or a hug are some of the things listed. Even things such as "We see hurricane damage and houses in ruins." I have found it helpful as well.

[WillingToDie]

WillingToDie,

I can understand what you are saying. However, I do not feel it is overprotecting our children at all to screen or preview movies before they watch. Enough stuff comes into our house with objectional material, why would I want to PAY for them to go see it as well. I believe children are not protected enough, they are expected to grow up way to fast with worldly adult themes in their television programs, video games and education. It makes me sad to hear some of the things my children's friends have been exposed to so early in their lives.

I make it a habit to watch what my children are watching. We only have one television so it's easy to do that. I like to call it controlled exposure. I have been watching their shows with them since they were little and I try to point out behaviours or attitudes that are unacceptable. Now that they are teens I get the "Mom, it's just a move/show!" line, but they see the difference. If they watch a movie, such as Harry Potter, they are not taken up with the "magic" because they know it's wrong and not really real.

It is very rare that you will find a movie made by Hollywood that is truly aimed at very young children. If they did you'd end up with 2 hours of Barney or Franklin [Little Bear is my favorite]. Mostly they are trying to appeal to the adults in the audience since the adults are the ones buying the tickets. When you try create a movie that appeals to adult humor, or content, the movie is bound to contain material that is inappropraite for young children, there is no way you can cross over without it.

It's amazing . . .

I was watching a bunch of adds for "Happy Feet", and they show all the fun stuff with the five smaller penguins (the leader voiced by Robin Williams), but show nonthing of the emporer penguins singing . . . which is the dominant theme of the movie.

I guess they figured if they played the penguins singing, people would realize what kind of movie it was and not go see it!

Since I saw the preview of that little penguin I have had my heart set on seeing the movie as have my trolls. I agree if the movie is as bad as this thread says it is then yes I wouldn't put

it past them to purposely have left many parts out of the advertisement! Thx all this saves me

the cost of tickets!

I'll probably catch some flak for this, but shouldn't we be worried about keeping our children overprotected? I mean, the sooner we expose our kids to certain things, the better they'll be able to deal with them when they're older. I understand the desire to protect our children from everything in the world that's bad, but it's not really a feasible idea.

I mean, to me, a movie with absolutely no objectionable material would seem kinda...boring. Exposure to this stuff is only dangerous if you're not willing to explain to your children what is and isn't appropriate, and willing to answer some difficult questions, it shouldn't be a problem.

This whole rant could just be a product of my growing disillusionment with political correctness. People just need to develop thicker skin.

I won't give you flak because in part I agree.

I don't wish to be too overprotective of my trolls but there are boundaries in which I will not allow society to corrupt them either. It is our duty to have our children prepared for society

the good and the bad has to be addressed before they are tossed into the world to fend for themselves, and that is one duty as a parent I take seriously "educating" my trolls!

Since Broke Back Mountain was a flop to it's targeted audience I guess they have decided

to use "Happy Feet" to achieve their goal.

God Bless!

Right. I must say that I'm very glad that there are still parents out there who are taking an active role in monitoring what their children are exposed to, as opposed to lobbying for the government to do their job for them. Kudos to you all.

but shouldn't we be worried about keeping our children overprotected?

I got exposed to pornography as a 7-year old . . . with unpleasant consequences.

A line has to be drawn somewhere.

I, too, was exposed to pornography at a young age by an older cousin. While there's no telling how much this has affected who I am today, I'm happy to say that I've become a somewhat well-adjusted person. Don't get me wrong, I agree that there should be a line drawn, and I think that line should be the point at which exposure causes psychological damage. Pornography exposure at a young age can indeed be psychologically damaging, but thankfully most people grow up to be well-adjusted people. On the other hand, some course language and a few innuendos (many of which go over the kids' heads anyway) are not likely to cause

A line has to be drawn somewhere.

I Soooooo agree with you!! Jesus definitely drew lines in the sand when it came to immorality, idolatry and godlessness - all of which are in this animated feature film.

I have not seen this movie, so I can't really comment on these claims, but I would think that, if these themes are indeed present, that they would be subtle enough that they are only apparent to those who are looking for them, something I doubt most kids do.

[Christ's Free Servant]

You are very welcome for the info CFS!

If you care to get very technical about your movie selection you could also check out

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

This is a site that has nothing to do with what someone thought of the movie it just lists all, and I do mean all, of the "infractions" every movie has to offer. Even just a smooch between husband and wife, or a hug are some of the things listed. Even things such as "We see hurricane damage and houses in ruins." I have found it helpful as well.

Thank you! My daughter used to have a site that she got that kind of information from, but then they started charging for it, so we stopped using it. Our theatre listings on Excite.com used to give the rating and the reason for the rating, but now they only give a rating and most of the previews or write-ups on movie guides do not tell you the negative content, but only the positive. So, thanks so much! This will help us to preview the content before we "shop" and then can't "return" the item. Once it is in our minds, it is there. We can only replace it with much prayer and time in God's Word.

[Christ's Free Servant]

I have not seen this movie, so I can't really comment on these claims, but I would think that, if these themes are indeed present, that they would be subtle enough that they are only apparent to those who are looking for them, something I doubt most kids do.

Oh, but that is how Satan works. Don't you see this? He desensitizes us to this by disguising it as a harmless kids' movie. We think, oh the kids won't catch this, but it is there being planted in their brains, take my word for it. My oldest granddaughter is only 8 years old, and believe me, she is very perceptive. Don't think they did not hear the lyrics to those songs. They heard them and they probably know them, because they are everywhere. And, don't think that those messages are not in their minds, even if they are not fully aware of what they mean right now.

You see, Satan does not blast us with his lies. He disguises them as "harmless" so that we accept them, and then we accept more and more and more and before we even know it, we have accepted a whole bundle of his lies. Test it. Try turning your TV off for a month, spend that time in the Word of God, and then turn it back on and see what you "notice". You will be amazed at what you have come to accept or even more so, what you did not even notice the first time you watched it.

[WillingToDie]

I have not seen this movie, so I can't really comment on these claims, but I would think that, if these themes are indeed present, that they would be subtle enough that they are only apparent to those who are looking for them, something I doubt most kids do.

Oh, but that is how Satan works. Don't you see this? He desensitizes us to this by disguising it as a harmless kids' movie. We think, oh the kids won't catch this, but it is there being planted in their brains, take my word for it. My oldest granddaughter is only 8 years old, and believe me, she is very perceptive. Don't think they did not hear the lyrics to those songs. They heard them and they probably know them, because they are everywhere. And, don't think that those messages are not in their minds, even if they are not fully aware of what they mean right now.

You see, Satan does not blast us with his lies. He disguises them as "harmless" so that we accept them, and then we accept more and more and more and before we even know it, we have accepted a whole bundle of his lies. Test it. Try turning your TV off for a month, spend that time in the Word of God, and then turn it back on and see what you "notice". You will be amazed at what you have come to accept or even more so, what you did not even notice the first time you watched it.

That's where you come in as a responsible, Christian parent (or grandparent, as the case may be). Make sure they know that such things are not ok.

Again, we shouldn't be afraid to answer those difficult questions, and in an honest and disclosing manner. Just make sure that when your (grand)children see those things, and perceive them, that they know they are not right. That's the job of the family, and to a lesser extent, society as a wole.

[nebula]

I have not seen this movie, so I can't really comment on these claims, but I would think that, if these themes are indeed present, that they would be subtle enough that they are only apparent to those who are looking for them, something I doubt most kids do.

Like I said, the penguins are singin, "Let's talk about sex," "You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on," and other similar songs.

I wouldn't call that subtle.

Would you buy this soundtrack for your kids to listen to?

These songs aren't about finding romance, nor about finding the right husband to help raise my child. They are clearly about "the act", and "the act" alone.

That's what got under my skin.

Plus, as was mentioned, there were subtle jabs against Christianity that irritated me as well.

[iammoreorless]

They always make those cartoon/animations so appealing in the commercials.

[WillingToDie]

I have not seen this movie, so I can't really comment on these claims, but I would think that, if these themes are indeed present, that they would be subtle enough that they are only apparent to those who are looking for them, something I doubt most kids do.

Like I said, the penguins are singin, "Let's talk about sex," "You don't have to be beautiful to turn me on," and other similar songs.

I wouldn't call that subtle.

Would you buy this soundtrack for your kids to listen to?

These songs aren't about finding romance, nor about finding the right husband to help raise my child. They are clearly about "the act", and "the act" alone.

That's what got under my skin.

Plus, as was mentioned, there were subtle jabs against Christianity that irritated me as well.

*quirky look* point taken