Rant of the Week: Kid's Movies

I feel like kid's movies have changed a lot in the last decade or so. When I was a kid, we got a lot of the movies that were geared towards kids (and no, I'm not saying that because I'm an 'adult' not.) But in the last ten years or so, we have seen an evolution in 'kid's' movies: they aren't for kids anymore. 

I know some people will claim that this is a completely invalid statement, as I am just viewing it from a different point of view, but after watching several films from my childhood and watching modern kid's films, I really genuinely see a huge difference. So, if you are one of those nay-sayers, please hear me out. 

In the past, there was a clear schism between kid and adult movies. Yes, adult's saw kid's movies, but mostly because they, ya know, had kids and didn't have a choice. The filmmakers didn't gear the movies towards everyone who was going to see them because they knew that adults were going to see it either way, because they had to. Yes, every now and then you come across a movie that adds in a few 'adult' jokes to make the parents feel included a little, but that was the exception, not the rule. It wasn't until the late 90's that we started to see movies that were geared towards kids and adults. 

I think that the evolution that we are seeing was heavily influenced by what we saw in early 90's television. The TV shows on the air back then were rife with adult humor and adult situations that were all masked with kid's themes. Take Full House for example: Bob Saget. Need I say more? And what the movie industry saw there was that, if they made the movies for both groups, they could make money from an untapped market: childless adults. 

Kid's movies in the 21st century (like How to Train Your Dragon, Up, and Wreck-It Ralph) no longer adhere to the clear kid's movie atmosphere. They are now an amalgamation of what we used to call a 'kid's' movie and what we think of as adult films. This is one of the big reasons that we are finally seeing animated films being consistently nominated for Academy Awards other than Best Animated Film. In the last ten years, we saw two animated films nominated for Best Picture, six for Best Screenplay, and seven for Best Sound Editing. 

I guess what I'm trying to say (if I'm saying anything at all, really) is that movies aren't for a specific age group anymore. We now see a lot of cross age group movies (WALL-E anyone?) that are really covering the gamut. I absolutely love this trend, and love that movies that are geared towards kids are generally bombing now when compared to the competition. This is a positive sign for what is going on in cinema, I would say. Or maybe I'm a fucking idiot. Take your pick.