Conference moira::parenting

    I bought our 3 yr old the book, to try to prepare him for the movie. 
    After reading the book, and telling him what happens in the movie, he
    DOES NOT WANT TO SEE IT!!!!  He prefers to play with the characters we
    bought him, and make Scar a nice character.
    
    Suits me fine.
    
    I thought that 'Return of Jafar' was far too violent and evil, wish I
    had done something similar there before buying that tape!
    
    I find myself viewing Disney as less and less wholesome for little kids.
    I also realize that even Bambi implies violence.  It was quite less
    graphic, and maybe still not ok for little ones...
    
    - Jim

    I saw Bambi for the first time when I was 4 and freaked.
    
    I had dreams for years that my parents were going to die.  Even
    mild things like that can have an effect on kids.  Or maybe it's
    just me...here I was at Disney World and my 4 year old tells
    me, "It's ok, Mom.  It's just pretend"
    
    Oh well, I think we'll pass on The Lion King. 
    
    Pam

Joyce Kulhawick(sp?) the movie reviewer for Channel 4 also agrees
that the Lion King is violent and she recommended NOT to bring
young children to the movie!  Though she did not recommend what the 
appropriate age might be.

The movie was shown at Radio City Movie Theater has sold out EVERY 
SHOWING - MORNING thru NIGHT!

Could become the HUGEST $$$$$$ GROSSING MOVIE OF ALL TIME.


Joyce also commented that it was one of the most moving movies 
she has seen in a long time and that the opening song is well worth 
the wait in line and the full price of the ticket!!!!!! She said she
had goose bumps......

Donna

    I don't see what the big deal is.   Sure it might be somewhat violent,
    but that is life in the jungle.   You can't go around constantly
    protecting your children from the violent side of life.  Life isn't
    peaches and cream.  There are good things and bad things about life,
    and I don't feel it is particularly fair to the child to shield them
    from all the negative things that can happen.   I'd rather have my
    child see "The Lion King" where the child can get a glimpse of what
    "Nature" is really like than to have them watch the violent "EVERY DAY
    NEWS" anytime.
    
    YOU CANT PROTECT YOUR CHILD FROM EVERY BAD THING THAT HAPPENS IN LIFE!!
    
    Just my opinion....
    
    
      Sarah

    
    After reading this note on Friday, I decided not to bring my daughter
    (age 3) to the movie.  Friday night I changed my mind and I took my
    daughter and a friend of hers (age 4) to the Saturday showing.  
    I was very glad I did.  The way this note was talking I thought it was
    going to be so violent that I would have to cover their eyes...didn't
    have to.  I thought the movie was great!  It's all "THE CIRCLE OF
    LIFE".     Just my two cents.

    Alex (9) and I saw it Saturday night.  While it wasn't as violent as
    the blurb from the Globe had made it seem, I still wouldn't take a
    child under 6 to see it.
    
    I prepared Alex first, telling her that I knew for a fact that the
    father lion dies in full sight of his cub, who then gets a guilt-trip
    laid on him by the evil uncle.  I said, "it's sadder than `Bambi', and
    you know how *I* get with `Bambi'!!" just to give her a point of
    reference.  She was fine with the scene; *I* was fine with the scene
    but I think Disney milked it for all the hankies they could, and *I*
    think they went overboard.
    
    Music schmusic--"Circle of Life" is the only contender for any sort of
    accolades, and I would be disappointed if it won any awards.  Love the
    concept, lukewarm about its execution by Elton John and Tim Rice.  The
    rest of the score I found mediocre, exacerbated by ridiculous revolving
    towers of animals trilling their brains out in unlikely settings (lava
    and vertically-shifting rocks in Africa?!).
    
    A few funny characters (but funnier to the adults than the kids, IMO);
    very predictable plot.  Uneven treatment on the background art.
    
    Leslie 

It was Lauren's first movie - 28months.  She did real well only
had to "walk" once.  We all enjoyed the movie - I agree some of
the humour is for the adults.  

Lauren liked the music and the animals.  The scene where the
father dies was a bit touchy - she kept asking what happened
and a few times throughout the movie she asked where the 
dad was.  While the death was violent (a stampede), there
was not blood (from some of the write-ups I didn't know what
to expect).

I liked some of the messages; the circle of life and the stars
representing past "kings" to guide you.

    My 4-year old saw Jurrasic Park twice last summer.  I don't think he's
    going to have a problem with a cartoon.  It all depends on how sensitive
    your child is.  Mine is constantly telling me "cheer up Mom, it's only
    a movie" when I pull out the tissues during a sad movie (can't get
    through Homeward Bound yet!).  I did take him to see Thumbelina - big
    mistake.  He was bored silly.  The only time he watched the movie was
    during the waterfall scene.  Not enough action for him : )
    Sarah

    My Two cents,...
    
    
    My son and I saw the movie twice this last weekend.  I loved it.   I
    thought that most of the animation was great and I really enjoyed the
    music.  I am going to purchase the soundtrack after work tonight.
    
    Christopher did fine the first time, but he did get a little upset with
    the death scene the second time.   He has been really bothered by
    violence on TV lately, but he really enjoyed the rest of the movie.
    
    I will definately go see it again this summer.  
    
    I may be way out of line to say this, but I thought the story of the
    "Circle of life" and how we return the grass, was really good.  If that
    scene raises a question, about what happens when you die, physically
    and spiritually, I think it is good.  I liked Mufasa's explaination of
    the "Cirlce of life".  Of course, having James Earl Jones explain
    anything in his regal voice is amazing.
    
    Even if you don't take you children, it is worth seeing.  Whoopi
    Goldberg and Cheech Merin are great.
    
    Katie
    

    Another factor: an op-ed article in the Boston Globe (I think. Possible
    the NY Times, my other daily newspaper) panned it as sending out
    horrible messages about how we view poverty and who gets what.
    
    Apparently the lions living in Eden-like plenty are threatened by
    jive-talking hyenas who skulk about their miserable desert enviously,
    and join up with a character with stereotyped gay mannerisms to kill
    the lion king. Later, the well-meaning son-king allows the hyenas to
    share in the plenty, at which they breed too fast and impoverish
    the Eden.
    
    Kit

I went with a friend on Saturday to see "Baby's Day Out". I don't know 
why, but she really wanted to see it. I'd never heard of it or seen any 
adds or anything. It was a cute movie. Definitely geared to the little 
ones, but I laughed a little too. I think it must've been rated "G" and 
it should've been. If I had kids, I think they'd really enjoy it.

Donna

    I saw it Sunday ... it's rated PG, probably for 'violence',  To me it's
    very similar to Home Alone, only not QUITE so violent, but still ....
    made me cringe/jump with pain a few times.  It was a fun movie, but I
    wouldn't have wanted to pay full price for it.  The kids loved it, and
    didn't mind the obvious 'gaps' in logic in the show.
    
    The baby was SUCH a cutie!  Of course I saw it because 'Baby Bink'
    looks a lot like Jonathan - especially that giggle!!
    
    The basic plot is that there's a rich baby, who gets kidnapped (by very
    NICE kidnappers - albeit slightly dumb ones), for ransom, and the baby
    wanders away from the 'bad guys' .... the movie is pretty much just the
    baby wandering around the city (N.Y. I believe), and the bad guys
    trying (GENTLY!) to catch him.  It's fun, but probably not worth a
    full-price seat.  GREAT for rentals!
    

    My almost 4 year old son eagerly took me to see the Lion King.  He had 
    already viewed it once before in a full Atlanta theater.  We visited a 
    less than 1/2 full Colorado Springs theater.  He wanted to sit in the 
    last row.
    
    When the stampede scene started he told me that he wanted to leave.
    I held him and told him that this was a pretend story and no one was
    really getting hurt or killed.  He calmed down and so did I.
    
    My wife said that he did not have this reaction the 1st time he saw the
    movie.  I think that Disney made this scene too strong for a G-rated
    film.  I certainly did not expect such intensity.  Please note that our 
    family has been sensitized to death by the recent loss of our full-term 
    son at birth.  Apparently the movie industry is not completely aware of 
    who might pay to see their entertainment and rate accordingly.  Time to 
    mail a letter to these 'family entertainers'.  

    Has anyone seen the movie "The Indian in the Cupboard"?  Without going
    into much detail, can you please tell me if it has anything that would
    be too scary, or inappropriate for a little boy 3.5+.  He's seen the
    commercials, and wants to see the movie.  For the most part, he doesn't
    scare easily (although we made the mistake of letting him watch "The
    Mask", and that really bothered him).
    
    Peggy

    We took my 6-year old and 3-year old to see The Indian in the Cupboard. 
    There was just one scene that I can remember that startled us (me
    included).  It was when the Indian was under the floor boards looking
    for something, and the pet rat was loose.   The rat jumped out through
    the floor boards -- big closeup -- it made the whole audience jump.  
    
    My 3-year old was sitting on my lap at the time, and I chuckled with
    her that Mommy got startled too, then I reminded her that it was just a
    movie, and wasn't that funny.  She was fine about it.
    
    Sheryl
    
    

    Sheryl,
    
    Thanks for the quick response!  I was hoping to take Andy within the
    week.  I think the "rat" scene will probably startle him, but not scare
    him enough to worry about.
    
    Peggy

    Well this old (44) softie got pretty broken up when a minor character
    died (an elderly indian figure, brought to life in the closet, who
    apparently died of shock or a coincidental heart attack).  It's handled
    well in the film; the boy feels real contrition (as opposed to "oh
    well, let's try another figure"!) so I wouldn't stay away because of
    it.  Just be prepared to explain that it was apparently his time to
    die....
    
    I agree that the rat scene is a *good* shock.  Everyone in the theater
    jumps--and then cracks up!
    
    Leslie

    Has anyone seen Toy Story yet who can provide some feedback?
    
    I'm interested in taking my 3.5 year old son and am wondering about the
    level of violence in it.  The commercials look OK to me, but my husband 
    has his doubts.
    
    The newspaper recommended it for kids ages 6 & up stating that it may
    cause problems for younger children with vivid imaginations. They might 
    wonder what their toys are doing when the lights go out at night.
    
    Any thoughts?
    
    Gail

    We went to see Toy Story last weekend.  I wasn't very impressed with
    the story line itself, though it was amazing to see an entire film done
    using computer graphics.
    
    We took my 6-year old and 3.5-year old.  They both enjoyed it.  In the
    movie, the neighborhood bully likes to "torture" his toys (he blows
    them up with dynamite, etc.)  There are some scenes where his toys,
    which he has mutilated (dolls with no heads/arms, etc), come out.  I
    thought that was a bit scary, but it hasn't bothered either of my
    children.  Neither of them commented on it and neither has had any bad
    dreams as a result.  
    
    I always preface movies like this with "this is pretend; it can't
    happen in real life."  Perhaps that helps somewhat.
    
    If your 3.5-year old likes animated features and doesn't scare very
    easily, then he should be fine.  If in doubt, you could wait another
    six months for the video to come out!
    
    - Sheryl
                                                           

I haven't seen the movie (yet!) but I wouldn't worry about the kids getting too
weirded out by it. Barney is a toy doll who comes to life, and there's a show
(on PBS?) called "The Secret Life of Toys" that is probably the same premise:
the toys come to life when no one is around. Unless your child is extremely
afraid of the unusual it should be good fun. He ought to be able to take it in
stride.

What would probably be more of a problem is him complaining that his toys won't
come to life like the ones in the movie!

Went with three kids (ages 9, 4, 3.5) and three
adults.  The three adults laughed a bunch as
did the 9 year old.

The 4 year old girl thought the dog and the mean
boy was scary.  Spent the latter half of the
movie on her dad's lap.

The 3.5 year old girl likes scary movies (ie.
Casper) and kept her eyes on the movie the whole 
time.  She liked the toys talking and moving but
some of the jokes (directed at us baby boomers 
who played with these toys) went over her head.
She would look at us and say "Whats so funny"?"

    My 4 yr old son loved it; my 7 yr old son thought it was "just ok".
    

    
    	Speaking of scary movies, I was a bit concerned about
    	letting 3.5 year old Emily watch Rudolph, because I can
    	still remember being scared watching it even at 7 or 8.
    
    	I turned on the TV last night, and Emily said, "Oh, Mommy, that's 
    	Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer! Can we watch it ?"  Turns out she'd 
    	already seen it at daycare.
    	(Don't get my husband started on not being the first one to 
    	watch Rudolph with her ;-) ).  Anyway, she wasn't terribly
    	scared, though she did cover her eyes with her hands (then
    	peeked through her fingers) when the abominable snowman showed up.
        

    
    WHAT??  Afraid of the Bumble??  (-:  But Bumbles BOUNCE!! (-:  And once
    they pulled his teeth well ....
    
    Anyway, back to Toy Story.  We went Sunday.  Took myself and my
    boyfriend, and 5 kids, ages 10, 9, 7, 4 and 2.  They all sat quite
    wonderfully through it, and loved it.  The 4 yr old got a little mad at
    the bully kid, and the 2 yr old didn't care much for the dog (hey, me
    either - it's a black and white pit bull? with big fangs).
    
    The decpaitated toys didn't seem to bother anyone, and while one of them 
    is pretty creepy looking (a doll's head, that's had all the hair cut
    off and one eye missing, and an erector-set body -- WEIRD!), they all
    turn out to be "good" (though that's definitely NOT the original
    impression).  Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to bring a kid of any age,
    unless it was one who's already afraid of things in the closet or under
    the bed, or who has a VERY vivid imagination.  The good guys prevail.
    
    Here some more details on the story line, if anyone REALLY wants to
    know what it's about.  WARNING:  This includes "the ending", so if
    you're looking forward to seeing it, don't read on (-:
    
    
    
    
    This probably won't sound funny, but the movie is very funny;
    
    The story starts w/ a small (8?) boy playing with his toys.  It's his
    b.day, and while he gets ready for the party, the toys come to life and
    are concerned that he's going to get "better" toys than them.  He ends
    up getting a bunch of "non-threatening" toys, AND a Buzz LightYear! 
    The best toy a child could have!!  To Infinity and Beyond!  He's an
    astronaut toy, who thinks he's real, and that he's landed on a strange
    planet.  He has a red light, which he thinks is a laser.  The boys'
    favorite toy is a cowboy named "Woody", but eventually woody gets
    pushed aside, in favor of BuzzLightYear.  The "mean" kid is the boy
    next door, and he likes to destroy his toys.  I think there's only 1 or
    2 scenes of him actually destroying a toy (blew up an army man), but
    it's discussed a lot by the other toys, about how miserable a kid he
    is.
    
    Oh Yeah - and the boy and his family are moving to a new house in a
    week or two.
    
    Anyway, Woody thinks that Buzz is getting too much attention.  He plans
    to get Buzz knocked behind a bureau, and lost for a while, when the
    plan goes bad, and Buzz gets knocked out the window, into the shrubs
    below.  At the same time, the boy is getting ready to go to "Pizza
    Planet" or something like that.  He's allowed to bring 1 toy, and wants
    Buzz, but can't find him, so settles for Woody.  All the other toys are
    bull with Woody for "killing" Buzz.  When the boy gets ready to leave,
    Buzz crawls out of the bushes and jumps on the bumper of the car.  They
    stop for gas, and Buzz makes it into the car next to Woody.  I think
    the two wrestle or something - anyhow, they end up OUT of the car, and
    abandon at the gas station.  BUT!  A Pizza Planet delivery truck
    happens by, and they manage to hitch a ride, intending to meet up with
    the boy there.  They get to the pizza-joint, and end up in a crane
    machine, and the bad-kid-from-next-door (who coincidentally was there
    too) wins the two of them as a prize (and a little martian toy that he
    later gives to his dog).
    
    The bad kid takes them home, and (I think it's then) then proceeds to
    pick on his little sister, and takes her rag doll from her, puts it in
    a vice and then you see a doll with no head.  Sequence of events may be
    a little off here - The "good" boy comes home and can't find either
    Buzz or Woody ANYWHERE, and is worried because they're moving
    "tomorrow" morning.  The other "good" toys are convinced that Woody
    killed Buzz, and is too much of a coward to return.  The bad boy also
    gets a package, that has a rocket in it.  He decides that he's going to
    put Buzz into orbit, and tapes him to the rocket, and is about to light
    him up, when he notices that it's pouring out.  I think I missed a part
    where Buzz sees a TV, and sees an ad for a buzz lightyear toy, and then
    realizes that he's only a toy, and not REALLY Buzz, after all.  This
    makes him really depressed.  Also, somewhere along the way, Buzz's arm
    gets pulled off, but later gets stuck back on (this is when you realize
    the bad kids' toys are nice).  So, Woody gets the attention of the
    "good" toys, whose window is conveniently directly opposite the "bad"
    boys' window.  But they're convinced Woody's a murderer, and don't want
    him back, and refuse to help him.  So then Woody and Buzz and the bad
    boys' toys all make a plan to save Buzz, and the toys come to life and
    talk to the bad boy, and scare the bejesus right out of him -- that
    part is REALLY funny!
    
    Then the moving van is leaving, and Buzz and Woody try to get on, but
    they're too late (woody got on, but Buzz didn't) The other good toys
    are there in the van, so Woody took "R.C." and tossed him off the
    truck, and picked up Buzz w/ him, and then Woody got tossed off, and
    they tried to catch up with the truck, but RC's batteries died, so then
    they lit the rocket that was still taped to Buzz, and they shot up "To
    Infinity and Beyond!", and eventually caught up with the car the kid
    was in, and they were "found" again.
    
    The movie ends with another b.day party, in which the boy gets a PUPPY!
    
    Very cute, very funny -- lots of little doses of humor all through it.
    Some of the more popular voices are;
    
    Either Tim Conway or Don Rickles (I always get them confused)
    Tim Allen
    "Cliff" from Cheers 
    Tom Hanks
    ....see if you can figure out whose who!
    
    Hmmmmmm - maybe I have them mixed up!
    
    Great movie!  I'm going back!!!
    
    -Patty

We took Noelle (3.5).  She spent the latter half of
the movie in her dad's lap, but she seemed to *really*
enjoy it.  I was a little concerned that she might have
nightmares afterward because the dog was pretty frightening,
but she wants to go see it again.  "And don't forget the
popcorn, Mommy!"

And we (the parents) *loved* it!

- Deb B.

>And we (the parents) *loved* it!

    Gotta admit..I took the kids this weekend and we all loved it.
    the 'animation' has to be seen to be believed.  It is so good,
    that you get startled when they show the animated 'humans',
    because the quality of the toys is so good that you forget
    and start to think 'photo'.  It excells at all the things
    that computers are great at.....surface quality, excellent
    wood grain floors and reflections, perspective, etc. etc.

    This is a good one.  but WHAT an AD!  I guess both the
    'new' toys plus the old ones are really just running
    right off the shelf this Xmas.
    bob

    
    Did anyone notice that the toolbox that fell off the desk, onto woody,
    said Binford Tools ??
    
    (-;
    
    Tim Allen gets a plug in....
    

    Who does the voices for the Toy Story?
    
    I caught these either during the movie or the credits, but the credit
    FLEW by:
    		Woody	Tom Hanks
    		Buzz	Tim Allen
    		Mr. Potato Head	Don Rickles
    		Dino	Wallace Shawn
    		Mom	Laurie Metcalf
    		Bo	Annie Potts
    		Pig	John Ratzenwhoever from Cheers
    
    Who else?  Who was Slinky Dog?  Who else was in it?

    
    Check out the disney web site for info about who does the voices in
    toystory.  (Something like http://www.disney.com )
    
    Phil
    

    
    You can also check the web site for Toy Story at
    http://www.toystory.com 
    
    
      John

    My kids took me to the movies yesterday for my birthday.  We saw
    ALASKA.  It was EXCELLENT.  The videography of the state of Alaska was
    breathtaking.
    
    My girls are 7 and 9 and were engrossed in the movie from start to
    finish.
    
    Roberta