Are Family Friendly Mantinees a thing of the Past?

With the Summer over and Autumn on the way out, Patrick poses the question today IS THE FAMILY FRIENDLY MATINEE DEAD?

Family Movies: A lost art?

As the youngest of five children, I watched a lot of movies. These movies were the beginning of my induction into Fandom. With the odd exception of Robocop (which I saw when I was 6! Yes, I saw Peter Weller shot to all hell at a tender age), all the movies I saw were family friendly matinee type movies, movies on a Saturday that went under the heading on Irish Television as “The Big, Big Movie”. All these movies shaped my childhood is some shape or form. These movies included The Princess Bride, The Three Musketeers, The Lion King, The Mask of Zorro, The Muppets Treasure Island, Back to the Future Trilogy, The Indiana Jones Series (excluding the terrible fourth one), Star Wars (original trilogy) et al. These are all brilliant and classical movies but they are also family friendly favourites. So what I’m asking is why are there no more movies like this around?

Nostalgia

I just want to make it clear that nostalgia had no impact on my feelings towards modern day family movies. I am an avid film goer and watcher, I am willing to give almost anything a chance. Lately any movie that I have gone to that has a family oriented feel feels just off. I can’t pinpoint it exactly but because there is something different in every one. For me I can still enjoy the movies I mentioned above still as an adult. I find it very hard to see the same being said for some of the movies that have come out lately. It’s important that these movies engage the adults as well as the kids. After all it’s the adults who are going to be taking the kids to the movies!

There is an element of nostalgia that impacts on you when rewatch these movies but it isn’t what makes them great. It’s the script, the story, the sense of adventure, the sense of wonder and the sense of being transported to a different place. At times this is all forgotten and kids’ movies are all about showcasing special effects and 3D. Like I said nostalgia isn’t going to play a part in this (I don’t want this to turn into a films were better back in my day sort of think). But there is a problem with the modern family movie.

Make it smart

Pixar= winning kid's movies

Why Pixar rule the roost at the moment in this department is that they don’t pander to kids’ perceived level of smarts. They know kids are intelligent and that they will get things, that’s why Wall-E works so well. It’s why all their stories have heart and why adults get a kick out of their movies too. I went to see Wreck It Ralph, and I was hopeful that Disney had learned from previous animated attempts. For the most part they had but what didn’t work were elements of the story. Initially the story is about Ralph looking for recognition but then it turns to Vanellope’s fight to be accepted. Okay, so they are the same story with the focus shifted from one character to another but that’s the problem. Look at Toy Story 2 it’s about the gang saving Woody. Toy Story 3 is about Woody saving the gang. Simple yet effective. I felt that the spreading the story over two characters lessened the impact of the story and in a way showed that the directors didn’t feel Ralph was a strong enough character to carry the theme of the film by himself. If the Pixar have proved any thing that with the family movie the smarter the movie the better it is. Hollywood should take more risks, it’ll pay off in the end.

Special Effects and 3D

Just No.

I have nothing against special effects and 3D. In fact, if it can enhance the movie going experience, great. When it comes to the family movies though it seems like the attitude is “Oh look at this shiny thing”, “Look at this cool laser”, “it’s in 3D so it has to be good”. So much of the family movies now are all about pushing the effects and the 3D that it seems like the movie has nothing else to offer, that kids will be happy with going to something as long as it has loads of special effects and that it is 3D. I don’t know why practical effects have been, effectively, been done away with. Kids are tactile by nature and if something is done for real rather than being imagined in a computer they can tell! Again the idea of making things smart applies here too. Remember first story then think about how to tell it. Don’t be like the latest version of The Three Musketeers. I mean, come on, a flying pirate ship!? Remember kids have the most powerful weapon of all: imagination. Create a world they can get lost in and your movie will be a success.

Yes. All for one and one for all should watch this one.

Give the market a chance and hit a happy medium.

Increasingly it's movies like this are aimed at kids

A great deal of movies now are being aimed at the teens and tweens. There is very little that hits a medium that allows everyone in. either you love melodramatic vampires or you love blockbusting superheroes. There is very little choice out there for a large portion of the market. When you think of all the movies in Fandom at the moment how many are really orientated towards families? When you think about it superheroes and the twilights of this world are being marketed towards this demographic but they really don’t allow for children at all. I remember going to The Dark Knight Rises and seeing a kid dressed up as Batman. That was really cool (mainly because adults can’t do that), but it also shows the lack of choice for kids. In a world of seemingly endless choice, we have to think is there really a world of films that kids will look back on and say were classics of their childhood? Or will they go back to the old staples that we grew up on? The market needs to be looked at again and Hollywood bosses need to take more risks.

At the end of the day it’s hard to see Hollywood changing its patterns. Franchises are the new money makers and that means a lot of good stories could be lost because the potential of having multiple movies isn’t there. It’s a sad fact but the Family Friendly Matinee could be dead. If it isn’t, it needs reviving. If it is, it needs resurrecting.