2. Nothing Ever Dies
Credit where it's due for some movies that face the tough issues. Movies like Old Yeller or Marley and Me stand out as examples of family-friendly films that still manage to address tough issues like death, particularly in the context of a pet dying. However, for every movie that approaches the topic of loss with the proper level of gravitas, there's an All Dogs Go To Heaven. I mean that literally, by the way. There are several movies and even a
television series with forty episodes for this franchise. It's not an easy subject. Most people don't want to acknowledge that death even exists more than we have to, and the last thing we want to do is expose kids to it too early. Worst case scenario, it gives them scars they'll carry with them for years. Best case, they become Batman. Though that's highly unlikely. However, no matter how difficult the concept is to teach, it should be treated with a level of respect and care. Of course the only thing worse than turning death into a cutesy, "everything is great" caricature is the cliché that death is never permanent. For this, I'll again turn to the first Pokémon movie, wherein after learning that violence is wrong, our hero attempts to put a stop to all the fighting and accidentally gets turned to stone. He gets better, though, when the tears of all the sad Pokémon and their clones revive him. To be fair, this is supposed to be a list of lessons that parents
don't like. Truth be told, though, most parents are probably okay with their children not being exposed to death so early on. In fact, if every kids movie had a more realistic interpretation of tragedy, kids may very well grow up even more troubled. Still, it's going to be an awkward conversation when little Sally doesn't understand why her goldfish isn't coming back to life when she cries.