Talking about children's books and films. Useful information for parents.
24 Oct 2018 Leave a comment
in Books, books 8+, Uncategorized Tags: animal rights, animals, animals in captivity, art, artists, circus, cruelty to animals, elephants, ethics, gorillas
by Katherine Applegate
Age: 8+ (warning: dark content – read full review)
Interests: animals, gorillas, elephants, animals in captivity, animal rights, cruelty to animals, art, ethics, circus
Also by this author: Crenshaw, Wishtree, Home of the Brave, the Animorphs series, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla
23 May 2013 Leave a comment
in Books, books 3+ Tags: animals, circus, elephants, music
26 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies Tags: animals, elephants, jungle
Rated: G
Length: 86 min.
Age: 6 and up Commonsense Media sez: 4 +
Scary Factor: One scene of Horton trying to cross a rickety swinging bridge above a chasm had my daughter (4) climbing the walls and whimpering. Also the vulture Vlad is rather creepy – he is made goofy through his dialogue, but this will be lost on younger viewers who will just find him threatening. Mob descending on Horton at end is rather intense, caging him and tossing the speck into boiling oil! Situation milked for optimum suspense.
Violence: treated as humour: Mayor gets stapler stuck in his head… twice; one animal character is drop-kicked; much fall-down slapstick stuff
Language: very harsh and sarcastic; a lot of name-calling: ‘moron’, ‘idiot’, and ‘boob’ (repeated many times, the ultimate insult levelled by the town council against the mayor: my daughter was still giggling about it days later)
Interests: elephants, jungle, Dr. Seuss
Next: Dr. Seuss books
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08 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in Movies, movies 4+ Tags: animals, circus, clowns, elephants, family, single parent, theatre
Rated: G
Length: 64 min.
Age: 4 Commonsense Media sez: 6 +
Scary Factor: the sight of the elephants crashing down from their pyramid was more alarming than funny; also Dumbo has to jump from a great height in the clown act and is scared; hallucination scene is just weird enough to freak out some young viewers
Intense scenes: the scene in which Dumbo is separated from his mother is heart-wrenching; the other animals mock Dumbo, and he feels bad, though he does get the last laugh in the end
Also: the general tone of the whole film is rather depressing. Especially scene in which he visits mom in ‘jail’ – very sad! And some parents may not like the boozing and hallucinations so much… (see full review)
Interests: circus, elephants
Rarest Kind of Best 