MovieChat Forums > Brother Bear (2003) Discussion > No death scenes in kid's movies please

No death scenes in kid's movies please

posted 16 years ago by birdseed-11
62 replies | jump to latest

I think one of the big problems with this movie is that there are two deaths. Parents, like me, who don't want to have to explain death to my 5 year old (yet) wouldn't take their kids to this movie, or rent the DVD at this point.

I mean what has Disney been thinking lately? Let's entertain kids by showing them their families can be destroyed? Who is the sadist that comes up with this stuff?

First we get that obnoxious Lilo 'n Stitch. Awful! "Let's put a felon, no a most-wanted felon, no a galactic most wanted felon, with a little girl whose family might be broken up at any time. He has claws and could dice her up at any time because he's an irresponsible criminal. And let's portray government as bad people who want to destroy a family's happiness. And let's portray the peacemakers as vindictive assassins who want to kill innocent Stitch for no good reason. What family wouldn't want to see that?"

Then Lion King: "Let's have a lion cub who sees his father get killed and thinks it's his fault. Better yet, he finds his father's lifeless body. Wow! What a great way to entertain a family."

I actually caught my daughter crying in front of the Lion King at that scene. I had to stop and explain to her that it was all make believe. Thanks Disney!

Then we get Brother Bear: "Let's have three brothers. One gets killed. Right away so the kids can cry early. So the other brother kills the bear responsible who is also a mom to a cub who we meet and come to sympathize with. So the kids, who also have a mommy, will cry again when they think that maybe they could lose their mommy too. What family doesn't want to go home from the movies and discuss death and loss with their kids?" Brilliant!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] heavenrain 14 years ago

Everone has pretty much said what should be said but I still feel I should offer my opinion too.
Seriously, death if a part of life and no child is too young to know a little bit about it. Sure, maybe they won't understand and maybe they will cry, but it's still there and you can't avoid the subject just because YOU are not ready to explain it. And I cry myself at the death scenes in Nemo,Lion kind, Bambi,etc. I mean, it's sad- It would be worrisome if we didn't cry and also it makes for a good movie that can capture your emotion. As someone before mentioned, what happens when someone *real* dies? How will you avoid that!

[–] Eris87 14 years ago

I'm 22 and every time I see Mufasa die I still cry. With Lilo and Stitch they didn't know he was dangerous. Also Jumba was watching him so if Stitch did try to do something Jumba would stop him. Not all children are the same. My young cousins who are younger then 10 enjoy these movies and the deaths have no effect on them. And it certainly hasn't traumatized me. Obviously you were sheltered when you were a kid. There have been deaths in Disney movies years before now so it has not been lately. And it is actually a great way to entertain family except yours. My family use to have movie night when I was younger and we would usually watch Disney movies. My mom also raised me on horror movies and it hasn't damaged me in any way. I think the problem is parents shelter their kids too much.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] KTope 13 years ago

Thanks for that incredibly ignorant rant. Did it ever occur to you that your sheltering is more of a problem than the movies? Death is a fact of life, and there is nothing wrong with portraying it it movies. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with kids (or anyone else) getting emotionally involved in a movie enough to cry.

i watched this movie last night with my 5 year old daughter last night. When the brother died, she said "He DIED?! Why did he die?", to which I responded "he fell from pretty high up". She says "but he fell into water" and I respond " the water only looks knee-deep, and a bunch of ice fell on top of him" "Oh" she replies. She was noticeably more glued to the screen and shaken a few minutes, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I am Jack's IMDb post.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] elphot_j 13 years ago

Birdseed-11 I have to say that I found your post really quite disturbing.

Death is an inevitable part of life.
It is guaranteed! Everyoneone will have to deal with it numerous times over their lives, and it does not exclude children.
Your son is five years old! Five!! How long do you think you can protect him from understanding death?
I applaud Disney for including real life lessons into their movies.
I think there is a huge problem with parents wanting to protect their children from all the facts of life. You can’t sugar-coat their whole childhood, all you are doing is delaying their learning and possibly giving them hang ups in the future.

Society's fear of death and sex is actually a serious problem for us and is doing nothing for our growth as a people.

[–] NatalieDoris 13 years ago

Just chill and tell your kid that its the CIRRRRRRRCLE OF LIIIIIFEE!!!!!!