How the family film is growing up

johnny_ultimate

Two and a half years ago, I was getting a bit fed up with American animation. I wrote about it here. There was a strong sense of apathy towards sequels like Shrek 3 and 'talking-animals-making-pop-culture-references' films like Shark Tale and Bee Movie. International cinema was creating far more ambitious animation like Persepolis and Paprika, and I was in the midst of exploring the joys of the Studio Ghibli filmography. 2007 had also seen the release of Ratouille, which was a surprisingly mature and adult film, although wasn't as revelatory as early Pixar films. The Incredibles had been the last Pixar film to truly impress, and that was working in the light-hearted confines of the superhero genre; superb entertainment if not always food for thought.

A couple of interesting developments have occured since then. Pixar struck back with an astonishing hattrick, and Dreamworks have released two surprisingly mature films. There's been a handful of lazy sequels too, but for the most part American animation has gotten interesting again, with other curveballs like the dark Coraline. Outside of animation, we've also had films like Where the Wild Things Are, an astonishing film that everyone really should watch. Family and children's cinema, particularly from America, has become extremely exciting again.

There has always been a few thoughtful, universal family films out there: my favourite remains My Neighbour Totoro, a joyous celebration of childhood innocence and animation. The best Disney films - from Bambi to Pixar - have always been brave. But for the most part film-makers currently seem to be on a particularly successful roll. There are a significant number of family films that have themes significant resonance with an adult audience too: Where the Wild Things Are, Coraline and Toy Story 3 particularly have scenes that may well be lost on a younger audience (not that kids won't love these films though; hopefully far from it). A couple of reasons for these improvements:

More human: Films like Up and How to Train Your Dragon may have their moments of action and playfulness, but they also have heavy themes and very human characters. Up is a poignant reflection on aging and missed opportunities, while How to Train Your Dragon has dragons that joyfully don't speak a word, and it's the human interaction that gives the film a heart. There has been a move away from talking animals, and although toys, pandas, and wild things have been chattering away, the realistic human characters are a pleasant change too. And the themes have grown more complex: mortality and genuine threat are the surprisingly dark focuses of a number of these films.

More aesthetically brave: Childrens' movies give you the opportunity to let the imagination run wild. It's true that American films for the most part aren't as ambitious stylistically as something like Belleville Rendezvous. They tend to have much larger budget, and are designed to play to a larger audience. This, of course, means directors may be limited with how ambitious they can be. However, there are wonders being worked within the confines of Hollywood. Kung Fu Panda was technically ambitious and ultimately visually impressive, with some brave and imaginative action scenes. Up has moments of great beauty, like balloons drifting through the air or an old man walking his house at sunset. Coraline was a dark, brooding extension of Seller's Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetics. Wild Things was impressively understated, abandoning the hyperactive sugar rush films that the worst, busiest family films unfortunately embrace. These films, in short, look great.

More emotion: I'll be honest. Some of the current crop of family cinema has been far more effective emotionally than they have any right to be. Anyone not moved by certain moments of Up or Toy Story 3 have hearts of stone :pac: Where the Wild Things Are has emotion without being cloying or sentimental (Max's relationship with the Wild Things

, his igloo's destruction and his eventual reunion with his mother

for example).

Mostly, family cinema has just gotten more and more mature. As I said, the best childrens' cinema and literature has always been this way, such as that part of Bambi that has scarred many a generation! I was a bit too hasty when I wrote that American animation needs to grow up, because grow up it most most certainly has. For me, many of the best examples of contemporary mainstream cinema are the ones that aim for, to use an overused sentiment, the whole family. It's a strange state of affairs, but for the most mature, thoughtful cinema, at the moment you're possibly best reverting back to your childhood!

mike65

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Necronomicon

I agree with the sentiment of your post; for years my interest in family films had waned big time, but my interest has piqued again big time. What is attracting me more than ever is their ability to explore adult themes, and not afraid to go 'dark' in places. There have been a number of films in the last year or so that I've come out of wondering how children actually responded to them (Coraline, A Christmas Carol, even Toy Story 3

(specifically, the furnace scene)

.

As an aside, it'll be interesting to see if the interest in 2D animation picks up again. I was never really one for the classic Disney films, but I actually enjoyed The Princess and The Frog and felt that it recaptured some of that spirit, which has been so lacking in Disney's output for the last decade.

Mickeroo

The way I see it in the case of Toy Story and Where the wild things are in particular is thatthe people behind both movies realise that a lot of the original audience of Toy Story and the poeple who read the wild things book are all grown up now, kind of like Andy himself in the movie. So the themes have grown up with them.