Two New Kids Movies Have Interesting — and Sometimes Troubling — Subtexts

By now, conservative parents know they have to be on guard when their children graduate from high school and go to colleges full of hedonism and liberal professors eager to indoctrinate students with leftist ideology. But, judging from two recent children’s movies, parents would be wise to start guarding their kids’ worldviews at a younger age.  Much younger.

This weekend, I found myself with a free Saturday, so I packed my three kids up and headed to our local movie theater to see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.”  It was a cute movie, full of fun food puns and adorable characters.  However, it got me thinking about the subtle — and not-so-subtle — messages that are being delivered to our children in these films. (Spoiler alert.)

In “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2,” the enemy that seemed to be a danger to liberty was actually just misunderstood.  (Plus, the person leading the charge was really just a money-hungry capitalist with a stake in the war.)

In “Free Birds,” an oh-so-cool turkey invents a deity because he realizes the rest of his dumb flock needs a fictitious god to give them confidence.

As parents try to raise their kids in a world frequently at odds with their values, we don’t have to stay home and watch old VeggieTale DVDs.  However, if you are planning on taking the kids to see these movies, you might want to read my more complete explanation of the subtexts of these two films before you go.