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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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I took my dc to see Horton Hears a Who today at a free summer movies showing.
OK- am I the *only* one who did not know that there was a hollywood remake starring Jim Carey? I thought we were gong to see the original animated movie! I did not even think twice about double checking this.
And, since I never heard that it was remade, I surely did not hear about how HORRIBLE it was. First a mean crack about HSing. Then a meaner crack at large families. Then the characters were horrible to each other, the language was terrible (stupid, idiot, boob)... and really, is viciously throwing a stapler at someone's picture on the wall what America wants its children to see?
I was shocked. I walked out with my dc, who were scared witless by then.
Wasn't this a children's book with a pro-life message originally?
Shame on Hollywood. Shame on me for not checking into this movie further before we went.
I can see that I am going to have to be more vigilant than ever about things like books and movies....
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MrsM
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 9:34pm | IP Logged
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You aren't the only one. I almost bought the dvd last week, but now I'm so glad I didn't after reading your post. Horton Hears a Who is my favorite Dr. Seuss book. Whatever made them think it was a good idea to offend families by making the movie trashy?! 
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Stephanie_Q
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
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We don't watch prime-time TV where new movies are advertised, so I don't usually know about "new" movies, either. I usually hear about the good ones and the bad ones on a forum like this or mom blogs. If I haven't heard about it, I check out a movie review site like "Kids in Mind" which does a good job of detailing the generally offensive stuff. I check the USCCB Movie Reviews to see if there is anything anti-Catholic to beware of. Unfortunately, I don't trust their ratings - "Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears A Who" is a perfect example of a movie they thought was great and gave an A-1 General Patronage rating to, whereas Kids in Mind tells you about the name-calling and "violent" incidents so you can decide for yourself.
I had read about the new "Horton" but it was enough for me to see that Jim Carrey was involved to skip it. I remembered how disgusted I was with his live-action role in "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", which prompted me to buy the original animated version on VHS (incidentally, the one I found at the dollar store has the original animated "Horton Hears a Who" on it as a special feature!)
FYI: I was also sickened by what little I saw of the "Cat in the Hat" live-action film with Mike Meyers. I didn't let my kids watch the original animated "101 Dalmatians" because, I thought it had too much name-calling and menace. The "updated" version (another live-action film) was not even a consideration! Another "updated movie" we turned off within the first 20 minutes was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" not to be confused with "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
We really DO have to be SO careful with what our innocent little ones watch! I have had a pretty easy time with the books, so far; but I can see how being careful about what they read is going to get harder and harder...
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jenk
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 3:10pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the post! Horton is playing as the free movie in a couple of weeks here and I'd planned on taking the kids... didn't even think to check it out first  Glad to know ahead of time!!
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KauaiCatholic
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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hey, you didn't TOTALLY drop the ball ... you walked out, right? 
chances are the fact that you left something objectionable will leave a longer impression on your kids than the inappropriate jokes. and hey, at least it was a free show!
don't beat yourself up too much. just think of all the wisdom you shared today. 
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MaryM
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 3:54pm | IP Logged
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In case anyone is interested in other 4 Real opinions on the movie - Horton Hears a Who?
And  to you Melinda.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 8:35pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for the link, Mary. I see that it's from last spring, which was when my dd was at her sickest, and so it's no wonder I missed it.
But I also do not watch TV (no cable, and I only want to watch House Hunters, anyway  )
Sheesh- I need to get out more... or stay in more if even Dr. Suess can be twisted around like that....
ETA: the last movie I watched before Horton was FIreproof, so compared to that Horton was even more awful...
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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homeschool4Him
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 9:57pm | IP Logged
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We thought Horton was fabulous and couldn't wait to buy it.
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mariB
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 5:25am | IP Logged
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to you, Melinda. So sorry that happened! It happened with our family a few years back with The Grinch. We all HATED it...didn't think about hollywood twisting it nor could I think a Dr. Seuss book could be twisted in such a manner.
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Faithr
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 11:00am | IP Logged
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Gee, we really enjoyed Horton Hears a Who. We didn't see The Grinch because I didn't want to see how they distorted that lovely story. But someone I trusted, can't remember who, said Horton was okay. To tell you the truth the stuff you mention I didn't even notice! Maybe because my kids are older now, I'm not so sensitive to this sort of thing.
Anyway, I thought the voices, character acting, etc were wonderfully done. Isn't it Carol Burnett as the evil kangaroo mom? We thought it was a fine expansion of the original story, though the book of course is a classic!
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 12:01pm | IP Logged
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Well, see, that was part of my main beef with the movie- the message was that all life, even the tiniest, deserves respect, and yet there were all the characters being horrible to each other. Calling names, threatening, plotting, throwing things... Is that a message of respecting life?
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Maddie
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 4:29pm | IP Logged
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Oh,gag. Thank you for the heads up, Melinda. I hate movies that further the culture rot in our society. We watch a LOT of "golden age" Hollywood movies, my children are always shocked when they find out actors and actresses like Bob Hope or Audrey Hepburn are no longer alive!
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Faithr
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 4:43pm | IP Logged
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Everyone is free to have an opinion, of course, but to me the point of the movie was that Horton and then the mayor were persecuted for what they believed. They knew they had the truth and in spite of how they were treated they perservered. So to me the mean spiritedness of some of characters was appropriate because it showed how herioc Horton and eventually the Mayor had to be. So our family actually saw it as hopeful movie, with excellent voice acting.
The book is still better, though!
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 5:14pm | IP Logged
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The book conveyed the same message of courage and protecting life, though, without all the name calling, etc.
Also, I found many of the comments to be full of innuendo- things that adults would catch but that would go over a child's head. Again, I just don't think that was necessary to convey the story's message, especially when it is labeled as "entertainment" for children.
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Faithr
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 6:48pm | IP Logged
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LOL! I thought the very opposite! That it was refreshingly free of innuendo! I wonder if maybe we had different expectations. I knew it was Jim Carrey vehicle from the get go. I checked Catholic movie reviews before letting my kids go, and I was wary of crassness. Since it wasn't nearly as crass as I was afraid it might be, I was relieved! Also, I just noticed that your children are both younger than mine. When my oldest kids were young I was very careful about stuff like that, and I think it is good to be, because you don't want them picking up bratty, mean talk by imitating it from the a movie. However, my youngest (a year older than your oldest) has been around older kids all her life, so she probably isn't as protected as my oldest kids were at the same age. I had to let go of being quite so diligent, so probably my standards are not quite so high as they used to be, though of course I still try to err on the side of innocence. But being around teens, even good teens, can have an effect on this sort of thing, in my experience, anyway.
I must say that I brought your objections to all my kids at the dinner table tonight, ranging from 18 to 7 and they all disagreed and thought the movie was very good, though my 14 had objections to the portrayal of the mean mamma kangaroo and her joey. He didn't enjoy that part of the movie.
Like I said before everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I just thought I'd post my positive one to counter your negative one, just to share another's perspective.
Hope there are no hard feelings or anything.
I do think the book is most definitely better than the movie!
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homeschool4Him
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 8:12pm | IP Logged
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Faithr wrote:
Gee, we really enjoyed Horton Hears a Who. We didn't see The Grinch because I didn't want to see how they distorted that lovely story. But someone I trusted, can't remember who, said Horton was okay. To tell you the truth the stuff you mention I didn't even notice! Maybe because my kids are older now, I'm not so sensitive to this sort of thing.
Anyway, I thought the voices, character acting, etc were wonderfully done. Isn't it Carol Burnett as the evil kangaroo mom? We thought it was a fine expansion of the original story, though the book of course is a classic! |
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I completely agree. I *hated* the Grinch, and wouldn't even put Horton into this category. It was a delightful movie.
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homeschool4Him
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 8:13pm | IP Logged
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Faithr wrote:
Everyone is free to have an opinion, of course, but to me the point of the movie was that Horton and then the mayor were persecuted for what they believed. They knew they had the truth and in spite of how they were treated they perservered. So to me the mean spiritedness of some of characters was appropriate because it showed how herioc Horton and eventually the Mayor had to be. So our family actually saw it as hopeful movie, with excellent voice acting.
The book is still better, though! |
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This was exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't seem to put it together. Thank you!
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Stephanie_Q
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 9:06pm | IP Logged
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Faithr wrote:
I just noticed that your children are both younger than mine. When my oldest kids were young I was very careful about stuff like that, and I think it is good to be, because you don't want them picking up bratty, mean talk by imitating it from the a movie. However, my youngest (a year older than your oldest) has been around older kids all her life, so she probably isn't as protected as my oldest kids were at the same age. I had to let go of being quite so diligent, so probably my standards are not quite so high as they used to be, though of course I still try to err on the side of innocence. But being around teens, even good teens, can have an effect on this sort of thing, in my experience, anyway.
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Great insight! In addition, I think that each of our kids are sensitive to different things + there are our own sensitivities that dictate our media choices. My husband is very sensitive to the "se*uality" portrayed in movies. He won't let the kids watch "The Little Mermaid" or "Aladdin" because he doesn't like the way they are dressed. I don't like the way those particular princesses behave, so we agree not to let them watch those, but for different reasons.
I am sensitive to "name-calling" because my oldest daughter picks this up readily. When I read aloud, I replace words like "stupid" with "silly". That's why I like the kids-in-mind reviews. They indicate "name-calling" that might not be a problem for some, but is for us.
Some kids are more sensitive to "scary" movies. I have a friend whose kids are the same age as mine, but "Pooh's Grand Adventure" was too scary for them. My 2 1/2 year old walks away from the TV when it gets "too scary" that his now 4yo brother had enjoyed at his age.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: July 03 2009 at 12:25pm | IP Logged
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Faithr wrote:
Like I said before everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I just thought I'd post my positive one to counter your negative one, just to share another's perspective.
Hope there are no hard feelings or anything.
I do think the book is most definitely better than the movie! |
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Oh, definitely no hard feelings. Life is too short to get mad at people for having their own opinions. I always enjoy a lively discussion.
We all have to do what we feel is best for our families.
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Topic: I totally dropped the ball...
