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A couple of things conspired lately to prompt this post. Firstly, a review of "Happy Feet" on Irish radio slated the movie, prompting loads of parents to ring in saying that perhaps a jaded movie critic wasn't the best judge of what would appeal to kids. Subsequently, the TV guide came in with pics of the months big movie, King Kong, and my kids eyes went wide. I decided to record it and let them watch in two installments as its 3 hours long.

We should all watch films through the lens of a childs eye.

They were by turns scared, horrified, saddened, excited, but most of all they were hooked. My kids are 8 and 5 (Aoife wasn't watching ). It takes a lot to make a 5 year old sit riveted for 3 hours, particularly Conor. I got a running commentary through the whole film.

She's pretty.
Why did she steal the apple?
She must have been really hungry.
Whay are they stealing the boat?
Are they bad guys or good guys?
That must be really scary.
Does he love her?
Ooooooh! (skull Island)
Is that Kongs back (The big rock)
Aaaaagh! (Scary natives)
Tell us when we can look!
Yay, they got away
Look! They're using big poles!
Why do they want Ann?
Is Kong a good guy or a bad guy?
Is he gonna eat her?
I think he's a good guy
Is he a good guy?
Wow he's big!
Is he a good guy?
I think he's a good guy.
Wow Dinosaurs!
etc...

I have to say, watching it with them was a completely different experience. We're so jaded. I was damning in my criticism of the movie when I first saw it. I thought it was overblown and indulgent. It probably is, but its still a damn fine movie. If the 1933 movie had such an effect on the 9 year old PJ, maybe this movie was playing to that same audience. Ian McKellan described Peter as "Childlike, not childish". This is a movie made for that inner child. It gives you that giggle of "O my God thats cool" and in its finest moments it is simply sublime.

The kids got everything they were supposed to get from the movie. They shuddered at the cruelty shown to Kong, loved his affection for Ann, hated the Army for attacking him.

Towards the end of the movie, when Kong was climbing the Empire State Building and the Biplanes were circling Clíodhna obviously picked up on the mood music and asked me quietly "Daddy, is Kong going to die?"

Conor reassured her. "No Clíodhna, its a movie. The good guys always win"

Sorry PJ, I should have given you more credit. You gave my kids what Cooper gave to you. Which is, at the end of the day, what you set out to do.

What a wonderful post, Alatar.

You probably remember that I liked the movie a lot and thought it was juuuust shy of greatness. To me, it felt imbued with a certain sense of childlike giddyness and wonder. Good stuff.

That's really cool. I often wonder (about movies in general, not just Kong) "How would I have felt watching this as a kid?" Because I know how sucked in to movies I used to get, and how real they always seemed even when they look lame now. When I think of the vivid memories I have of seeing a movie like Krull when I was tiny, I can't imagine how wonderous something like LOTR would have been. I want to be a kid again!

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I can't imagine how wonderous something like LOTR would have been. I want to be a kid again!

Exactly! I would have LOVED to have seen LOTR around 12-14 years old. That seemed the time to me when movies seemed to be just magical for a lack of a better word. I still adore LOTR to bits, but I know if I had seen it at that age it would have been a profoundly different experience. I still remember watching Hook at like twelve or so and thinking it was the most awesome movie ever! LOL! Boy do our views change as we grow!

One thing that I try to do is watch as many awesome movies that I love and that I think my daughter would enjoy with her as I can. The range of movies we can watch together has really expanded in the last year...she's nine now. I still haven't shown her LOTR yet, because I don't think she is quite ready to really take it all in, but I know she is getting close. I can't wait!

In fact I have waited till recently to show her The Wizard of Oz which we watched for Christmas this year. Not because obviously of any misappropriate content, but I thought she was finally old enough to sit all the way through and understand it and not be bored. She really loved it too and we had a grand old time talking about how old the movie was and when it first turns to color how that just blew away the first audiences that ever saw it. I still love the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow and I knew my daughter would too.

My daughter is also the only one that loves to watch Japanese anime with me and in Japanese too! LOL! And she loves The Phantom of the Opera and always watches it with me as well. HeeHee! My daughter is so cool. So yes it is definitely an experience to watch beloved and maybe even not so beloved movies with a child that is of an age to be able to follow the plot and yet still can be carried away by the magic of the movies.

And I haven't seen Jackson's Kong yet, but after reading this thread I may have to remedy that.

~Sid

Sidonzo wrote:

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I can't imagine how wonderous something like LOTR would have been. I want to be a kid again!

Exactly! I would have LOVED to have seen LOTR around 12-14 years old. That seemed the time to me when movies seemed to be just magical for a lack of a better word. I still adore LOTR to bits, but I know if I had seen it at that age it would have been a profoundly different experience. I still remember watching Hook at like twelve or so and thinking it was the most awesome movie ever! LOL! Boy do our views change as we grow!

:waives: Guess who was twelve when FOTR came out! You just made me feel like the luckiest girl alive.
It was awesome.

What anime do you watch with her? I think Rose of Versailles/Versailles no Bara is possibly the least fanservicey thing ever. unless your idea of fanservice involves twenty layers of underwear and women waving swords around. I think I would have enjoyed that a lot when I was younger. The animation's kind of prehistoric, but it doesn't spoil a bloody good story. *RECCOMENDS*[/mini-sidetrack]

*~Pips~*

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What anime do you watch with her? I think Rose of Versailles/Versailles no Bara is possibly the least fanservicey thing ever. unless your idea of fanservice involves twenty layers of underwear and women waving swords around. I think I would have enjoyed that a lot when I was younger. The animation's kind of prehistoric, but it doesn't spoil a bloody good story.

Mostly just the movies by Hayao Miyazaki and Sailor Moon...*looks at avatar*...oh and she loves Advent Children too. I'm afraid I am no where as cool as you are when in comes to anime, Pips. And like you said a lot of it tends to be geared to a different audience than nine year old girls. Though if you would suggest Rose of Versailles as one that we would enjoy watching together, I'll definitely check it out.

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:waives: Guess who was twelve when FOTR came out! You just made me feel like the luckiest girl alive.
It was awesome.

That's great! Exactly the ages I would have wanted to watch the entire trilogy at.

~Sid

Well I've never watched Sailor Moon or Advent Children (though I recognised Cloud there) so according to most anime fans I must be clinicaly dead.
There's no English dub for Versailles no Bara, so I've watched the fansubs. (I'm saving up for the French box set though). You could always burn them to DVD if watching things on the computer wasn't the same.
Wikipedia
I think it was pretty much the first shoujo to try and be taken seriously. Pretty much every country in the world has its own dub of Versailles no Bara. I have no idea why they never bothered with English. I mean... there's an Arabic version out there. They showed it in Kuwait. Oscar's a freakin' cross-dresser with a lesbian admirer, and the Kuwaiti kids still got to see Versailles no Bara.
It is sort of sparkly girly crap half the time... I have no idea what there is about it that appeals to me so much.
I'm sorry to derail! I just haven't got round to watching King Kong yet.

*~Pips~*

hm the only films I really like are kids type films with one or two exceptions, and those tend to be films made for kids which can only be seen by adults, if you get my drift

I would say its the same reason I still love Star Wars, as I was 9 when it first came out. My mother has no idea why I still love it to her it was just a silly movie.

I hope that my kids sort of had the same effect with LoTR. They were also 9 when the fellowship came out.