Think twice before taking your kids to see Toy Story 3... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MercFan · #1 08-02-2010, 12:20 AM

We took our 6 year old daughter to see the film because she's been talking about it for 2 weeks now... so we decided to do it today as a nice family outing.

I had no expectations from the movie other than I thought the first one was great (didn't even see the second). The movie starts off easy and produces few laughs for the kids and few chuckles for the adults - something I've always enjoyed in Pixar movies.

About half way through the film the movie darkens and some of the characters take on a somewhat twisted and I would venture to say evil personalities. It gets worse and soon I hear my daughter starting to squirm in her seat and say "oh, oh - I don't like this..." - now, she's not a wimp; this is a strong little girl, but it's not long before she crawls into my lap and can't even watch some of the scenes as the toys are accosted by some freaky characters. I watch as other parents clutch their little ones and cover their eyes and console them to stay calm - this is starting to upset me.

I don't want to give too much away, but some of the scenes made my daughter so afraid for the heroes that she was shaking and my wife and I both took turns to console her and convince her to just watch to the end - we all hoped as heck that the happy ending was coming - though not soon enough for my daughter ..

To summarize, I have no idea why Pixar/Disney executive came up with the decision to build such a dark plot into a kid movie. From my vantage point, I saw images of prison, gangs, thugs, bullies and a distant re-incarnation of Jason the mass-murderer - all this in the film that my daughter just couldn't wait to see, then could barely watch to the end. My daughter watched in horror as the heroes held hands together and were facing a horrible end together... mind you, to a 6 year old these heroes could have been her friends... she just couldn't bare it and I was was just furious and besides myself with anger.

At the end, my wife begged me to stay calm, but I immediately rushed over and had a word with the manager of the movie theater. I was trying to be calm and made sure he knew I wasn't mad at him but a the producers and the MPA - he was sympathetic and he listened.

I felt so bad for my daughter - as we left she was a little shaken but ok. We spent a lot of time in the car and during dinner talking about it and decided that we all need to forget about it. But I'm NOT going to forget about it and I really need to let some of these ba&tards hear about ...

Tonight I am mad as HE&& at Pixar, at Disney and especially at the Motion Picture Association that in their great wisdom they decided to award this movie a "G" rating. Up to this point we've trusted Disney to provide quality entertainment for kids but I feel like tonight that trust was violated. Feel like we've been betrayed and I'm appalled, discussed, stunned and mad as HE&&!!!

In my mind they've seen the last of my money - and that's a promise I intend to keep!

jt20 · #2 08-02-2010, 12:25 AM

coupled with Disney's prostitution of underage children.....

...I'd say that's a great idea.

MercFan · #3 08-02-2010, 12:58 AM

I'm still boiling over with anger... honestly, I don't remember last time I was so mad...

TylerH860 · #4 08-02-2010, 01:18 AM

I sort of felt the same way; very dark, and not nearly as fun as the first movie, which came out in 1995 when I was 9 years old.

mgburg · #5 08-02-2010, 02:17 AM

I saw TSIII. (and I paid $12.00 for the 3D version) and while the 3D aspects were interesting, I'd agree that the storyline was more "PG13ish" than G for kids.

The rollercoaster/toaster scene, I thought, might have been a bit too intense for kids that had seen either TSI. or TSII. or both.

TSIII. may have been the tree falling in the forest that the studio heads (dead or otherwise) never heard.

They didn't look at the work as something that could pass the "I didn't see the first two but maybe this should be just as cute" test.

Could you imagine the "Little Rascals" serials being "upgraded" with each and every installment as they were being released? Hell, by the end of the 30th episode, Buckwheat may have been teaching English at Oxford!

Or how about the "Bowery Boys" serials? Let's not even think how that would have turned out!!

Maybe we, as adults, have to "pre-test/view" the films before we take the kids to them anymore.

We're already experiencing the fact that what we perceive as harmless is anything but. Let's MAKE SURE we don't throw our kids (pardon the upcoming pun) into the fire 'til we're sure there isn't anything for them to see that they aren't ready for.

You found out that Disney/Touchstone isn't interested in our kids' mental health anymore...that disappeared not too long after Walt passed on and the Disney organization went Public (or should that be "pubic?") and became beholden to shareholders and not the ideals of the kids...

Ara T. · #6 08-02-2010, 02:21 AM

Gimme a break, she'll get over it. I saw Schindler's List when I was 4 and wasn't scarred for life. My grampa (perhaps a bit of a sociopath) wanted me to learn something, or something. We have it pretty good in this country when the worst our kids see is Toy Story 3!

johnathan1 · #7 08-02-2010, 02:44 AM

That doesn't happen here...kids in LA are exposed to crazy people and evil characters on a daily basis.

cmac2012 · #8 08-02-2010, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MercFan

I'm still boiling over with anger... honestly, I don't remember last time I was so mad...

Wow. The reaction of a 6 year old girl is hard to ignore - that's going to be a pretty honest review.

I'll second the part in another post about Disney pimping underage girls. Hanna Montana gives me the willies. Just weird and contrived and Miley Cyrus looks to be on track for the Lindsay Lohan merit badge.

Ara T. · #9 08-02-2010, 05:47 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBGGAjMg9vw now this traumatized me for life when I saw this as a kid! lmao what a take on Satan! Still creepy as hell to this day

vwbuge · #10 08-02-2010, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MercFan

We took our 6 year old daughter to see the film because she's been talking about it for 2 weeks now... so we decided to do it today as a nice family outing.

I had no expectations from the movie other than I thought the first one was great (didn't even see the second). The movie starts off easy and produces few laughs for the kids and few chuckles for the adults - something I've always enjoyed in Pixar movies.

About half way through the film the movie darkens and some of the characters take on a somewhat twisted and I would venture to say evil personalities. It gets worse and soon I hear my daughter starting to squirm in her seat and say "oh, oh - I don't like this..." - now, she's not a wimp; this is a strong little girl, but it's not long before she crawls into my lap and can't even watch some of the scenes as the toys are accosted by some freaky characters. I watch as other parents clutch their little ones and cover their eyes and console them to stay calm - this is starting to upset me.

I don't want to give too much away, but some of the scenes made my daughter so afraid for the heroes that she was shaking and my wife and I both took turns to console her and convince her to just watch to the end - we all hoped as heck that the happy ending was coming - though not soon enough for my daughter ..

To summarize, I have no idea why Pixar/Disney executive came up with the decision to build such a dark plot into a kid movie. From my vantage point, I saw images of prison, gangs, thugs, bullies and a distant re-incarnation of Jason the mass-murderer - all this in the film that my daughter just couldn't wait to see, then could barely watch to the end. My daughter watched in horror as the heroes held hands together and were facing a horrible end together... mind you, to a 6 year old these heroes could have been her friends... she just couldn't bare it and I was was just furious and besides myself with anger.

At the end, my wife begged me to stay calm, but I immediately rushed over and had a word with the manager of the movie theater. I was trying to be calm and made sure he knew I wasn't mad at him but a the producers and the MPA - he was sympathetic and he listened.

I felt so bad for my daughter - as we left she was a little shaken but ok. We spent a lot of time in the car and during dinner talking about it and decided that we all need to forget about it. But I'm NOT going to forget about it and I really need to let some of these ba&tards hear about ...

Tonight I am mad as HE&& at Pixar, at Disney and especially at the Motion Picture Association that in their great wisdom they decided to award this movie a "G" rating. Up to this point we've trusted Disney to provide quality entertainment for kids but I feel like tonight that trust was violated. Feel like we've been betrayed and I'm appalled, discussed, stunned and mad as HE&&!!!

In my mind they've seen the last of my money - and that's a promise I intend to keep!

You are on crack.

raymr · #11 08-02-2010, 08:40 AM

Success! Dad goes ballistic defending his daughter from evil dolls and puppets. Most story writers only dream of this stuff, because usually movies begin and end on the screen, but the OP has carried the story into a real life drama. I bet you anything Disney had inside predictions about this kind of stuff happening.

Personally I avoid highly polished flicks that try to pull all the emotional triggers. They are experts at it, and getting better, and I usually feel manipulated by it all.

LUVMBDiesels · #12 08-02-2010, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara T.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBGGAjMg9vw now this traumatized me for life when I saw this as a kid! lmao what a take on Satan! Still creepy as hell to this day

"The Mysterious Stranger" was a creepy story and this take on it makes it even creepier!

Mark Twain had had it with humanity by then...

Angel · #13 08-02-2010, 08:57 AM

Wife and I saw TS3 without out children. and while we agree that some parts of it were kinda scary, there was no graphic violence (no blood, no nudity, okay, yes, Mr Potato head's arms did come off a few times =)

I agree that it is not a 'G' movie - We agreed that our 2y/o and 4y/o would not enjoy TS3 - too bad for Disney's checkbook...

Not wanting a serious threadjack - Personally - I recommend anything by Veggietales - Bob and Larry could so kick Buzz and Woody's arse =)

Toy Story 3:
G- no
PG - yes
PG-13 - Nah- Indiana Jones3 and Gremlins were PG-13.

It has nothing on the GI-Joe cartoons (people regularly shooting at each other with guns) that I watched. Nor do I think it has anything on the Pokemon/fantasy monster fight genre that is marketed to elementary schools these days.

That being said - Thank you MercFan for bringing this up. Allowing parents/adults to make informed decisions about art is the best answer to accommodating the variety of values in place in society today.

-John

SwampYankee · #14 08-02-2010, 09:03 AM

I didn't think of that at the time but looking back, it was a little dark. We saw a double feature at the Drive-In of Toy Story 3 and the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It never phased my older two, 12.75yo and 10.75yo, my 4yo is fairly warped

and a lot of it went over his head and my 7yo fell asleep before any of the dark stuff crept in. But I can see how a 6yo could have a tough time with it.

It was fairly entertaining, appropriateness or not aside, but not anywhere near as good as the first one.

Sorcerer's Apprentice was pretty good, my wife and older kids enjoyed it. I think I did fall asleep for about a 20 minute stretch so I'm not sure if I missed anything important.

TX76513 · #15 08-02-2010, 09:27 AM

On local TV and print media there have been warnings about the content of TS 3 for younger kids.