You Are Never Too Old For a Children’s Film
Especially If You Are A Critic
Recently, I overheard someone in line at the store remark, “What, you are going to watch a children’s movie? I mean, how old are you already?” I found myself scratching my head at this. For one, aren’t children’s movies typically written and produced by adults? Aren’t whole families often encouraged to watch them(PG does mean “parental guidance prescribed”)? I just kept pondering this and remembered so many points I’ve previously explored.
So many times, children’s movies are packed full of “adult” themes. What “super-adult” things found their way into children’s movies? Let’s remember those classic nineties films.
From the original Toy Story:
“What do you say I get someone else to watch the sheep tonight?”
Uh, what if Andy walked in on their date?
And in Toy Story 2, Buzz’s wings fly out when he is amazed at Jessie’s skill.
Uh, what are the wings supposed to symbolize?
And going back to the 1990s with the original Lion King, “And Every Time that I…”
Probably some adult expletives about gas or digestion?
And if we remember Finding Nemo,
when the fish plot to dirty the fish tank so they can escape, and Gurgle says, “don’t you realize we’re swimming in our own… .?” Uh, the imagination can explore numerous possibilities.
What parts of kids' films do we wish were real so that even the “most sophisticated” of adults would want to explore them?
Certainly, plenty of unique places, things, or events in real life resemble the most magical and wonderful of those big screen worlds (often, those marvels do indeed exist in real life). However, don’t we all wish for places like Duncan’s Toy Chest from Home Alone 2 to be real?
Duncan’s Toy Chest is a fictional super toy store.
Duncan’s Toy Chest appears to be a top New York store as featured above. In reality, this film location was actually shot in Chicago at the Rookery building.
The Rookery building in 1992 probably didn’t have a toy store. It has been marked on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. For decades, it has been a location for office spaces like the one below.
We do know many very intelligent and abstruse theories are formed about children’s movies. This alone proves that people of all ages keep going back to the films.
Here is a list of just a few Home Alone film theories.
One very frightening theory is that Uncle Frank hired Marv and Harry to rob the house.
It makes sense in a weird, twisted way. Frank is cruel to Kevin, so he doesn’t care that Kevin is home alone and might even find a way to pin it on him. Frank is also a miser who looks like a dim light bulb compared to his rich brother Peter. So, Christmas would be the perfect time to set up the greatest heist of his brother’s greatest possessions.
Countless other children’s films have countless critical questions and theories.
Take Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, for instance. How did Charlie’s grandfather suddenly get out of bed when Charlie won a Golden Ticket? Many would speculate that Charlie’s grandfather was bedridden — estimated at 90+ with some serious health condition or other. There is a lot of reasoning to support this theory. In the 1970’s film, Grandpa Joe is Charlie’s maternal grandfather, living in the 1970s film in poverty with his wife, daughter, grandson, and Charlie’s paternal grandparents. He seems doomed to live out the rest of his days limited to the confines of the shared bed in a small one-room home.
But the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory changes not only Charlie’s life but the whole family’s — including Grandpa Joe’s. The promise of magic and wonder at such a fantastical scale is enough to lift Grandpa Joe out of bed to explore the world once again.
As Grandpa Joe sings at the time he is regaining his balance and walking once again:
“I never thought I’d see the day
When I would face the world and say
Good morning. Look at the sun
I never thought that I would be
Slap in the lap of luxury.”
Now, Grandpa Joe, under this interpretation, could have falsely believed he was bedridden and not good to walk again. Maybe this was from some doctor who made a faulty diagnosis or some traumatic event like the passing of his son-in-law(this was the story in the 1971 film). But even if the bedridden lifestyle was psychological rather than physical, the Golden Ticket is still the catalyst that spikes out of the confinement.
There is also the interpretation that he was pretending to be bedridden. This could also be a psychological illness or even a personality disorder like a dependent personality disorder. The significance of Grandpa Joe being broken out of his “pretend spell of bedriddenness” would also be the same — perhaps even more in this case would we see the real magic of the Golden Ticket to transform someone in the most profound, otherwise impossible ways.
How wondrous is it that the more you consider the prospect of adults enjoying films produced primarily for children, the more you realize how much the child and adult aspects blend together.
One such film that embodies this is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Premiering in 2019, the movie grossed $67 million in the box office, and brought several award nominations for Tom Hanks. The film was produced as an “adult version” of Mr. Rogers’ classic children’s program.
The film focuses on the relationship between beloved real-life children’s show host Fred Rogers(played by Tom Hanks) and struggling young journalist Lloyd Vogel(based on the real-life relationship between Rogers and writer Tom Junod). Mr. Rogers helps the bitter Lloyd repair his relationship with his estranged father and become a better husband and father.
The whole movie is wonderful. It is a movie to make you laugh, cry, smile, and remember the good and beautiful parts of life. One little detail I love most from the film, however, has to do with the real-life Mrs. Joanne Rogers. The real-life Mrs. Rogers, in her early nineties, played an extra in the box-office hit film.
Although her husband Fred passed away in 2003, Joanne Rogers still carries on her husband’s legacy while also continuing her own lifelong legacy as a famous pianist and matriarch. Her little cameo on-screen was just one stop she usually makes touring the country either playing the piano or promoting the work and spirit of her husband.
Remember her at any point in the film? Go back and see if you can find her in any of the background scenes while the fictional Mr. Rogers helps Lloyd find greater peace and strength. The placement of this real-life hero among the fictional depiction of her husband’s life is most magical.
