Kids’ Movies Versus Capitalism

I took the kids to see Winnie the Pooh this past weekend, and was irritated by the short film that preceded the flick.  Here’s my latest on NRO about the phenomenon:

Land developers are evil.

At least according to popular kids’ movies. The most recent offender is “The Battle of Nessie,” a beautiful short film that features the work of award-winning directors Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino. Set in Scotland, the film purports to explain how the sweet Loch Ness monster and her rubber duck came to live in the lake they call home. Apparently Nessie was so bereft over a land developer’s turning her bucolic surroundings into a miniature golf course that she wept a lake into existence.

Though the film is visually appealing (with its classic hand-drawn characters and settings), its plot and message struggle to keep up with its imagery. “It’s okay to cry” somehow turns into “Crying sometimes actually solves your problems.” While this may be true if you are an incredibly weepy monster who needs a lake, or if you have an irritating dust particle in your eye, crying alone rarely solves your problems. It seems a little too trite to build even a short film around.

Even if you overlook that treacly message, the evil-land-developer theme so popular these days remains to be endured.

Don’t believe me that this is a familiar theme in kids’ movies?  Click through and read the list!