The newest character to the Ice Age group, an insane weasel named Buck.This movie pissed me off.
No, I haven't suddenly turned into a movie critic, nor am I planning a whole series of movie reviews, nor am I likely to take up any reviews of Hollywood or movie stars or even famous people. (Go back into my archives and see how many times I blogged about Michael Jackson, for example.) (OK, I did talk about Kim Kardashian once, but I can explain that.)
The simple reason I tackle Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is because the movie made me angry.
First of all, I paid money to take my family and see the movie. That makes me surly and a bit curmudgeonly, but that doesn't make me angry. I found the movie's storytelling to be laborious and dull. That makes me bored, wondering when the movie will end, but it doesn't make me angry. I found the characterization shallow, the exposition blatant, and the premise unbelievable. That makes me dislike the movie but it doesn't make me angry.
No, what made me angry about the movie is the insidious anti-family message buried within an animated film aimed directly at children.
Of course, this isn't the only movie that's ever chiseled away at family values. Hollywood has no end of such films. The anti-family messages in this movie are hidden and completely destructive of family values. Parents and children could go to this movie and never realize the movie-makers had hidden their anti-family agenda within it. Except the agenda wasn't clever or particularly well hidden.
I should give you a spoiler alert but since I recommend that you avoid this movie, I could care less if I ruin anything for you. Seriously, don't watch this film. Don't take your children. This movie is offensive to parents. This movie is offensive to families.
Offense 1 - Selfish Obsession
In the first Ice Age movie, the character Scrat is funny and provides a cute side story to the main story. In the current movie, the writers seem to have forgotten what made Scrat funny in the first place. Scrat chases after his beloved acorn, only to have it stolen by a female version of Scrat - Scratte. The two fight over the acorn throughout the movie (losing any comedy in the process). Scrat and Scratte finally end up together, the acorn long forgotten. They share a happy time with each other until the end of the movie. In a final scene, Scratte stereotypes a witchy wife who makes Scrat move the couch around their new home. Scrat hates the work, sees the acorn out of the window and, of course, obsesses about it again. He and Scratte fight over the acorn again, Scrat dumps his "wife" for the acorn, succeeds in escaping with it, only to lose the acorn and his love.
Moral: In a relationship, it's all right to be selfish and think only of your own needs above those of your partner. As long as what you do makes you happy, no one else matters. Not even your wife.
Offense 2 - Stupid Males
The two woolly mammoths, Ellie and Manny, are going to have a baby together. When the group goes to rescue Sid the sloth, Ellie is the first to jump into danger, showing how strong the woman can be, then bogs down the entire group when the baby arrives at an inopportune time. Manny becomes the stereotypical man who lacks any common sense or ability and must be directed by the woman or by Diego in order to show any sort of brains. Ellie is saved by Diego who can't seem to quite help out and needs the strong woman to finally get rid of the evil predator dinosaurs.
Moral: Without women, men are useless. This, of course, has been a main theme of Hollywood for years. Will Hollywood stop with this "role reversal" when men become completely emasculated and women dominate? Probably not, since Hollywood thrives on maintaining sex and class warfare as its bread and butter.
Offense 3 - Gay Is OK
Hollywood has taken up the homosexual meme and now feels it is time to promote homosexuality at all levels of film. Ice Age is replete with homosexual innuendo, dumbed down to teach children that it's OK to be gay. There are several overt homosexual jokes. One involves Diego and Manny in close quarters with a reference to sexual excitement.
Same sex marriage and other gay activist issues are addressed. For example, Sid the sloth is written as the compassionate homosexual or transvestite, a man who wants to be a good mother.
Sid finds himself lonely because Ellie and Manny are married and going to have a baby. What does Sid do? Does he go find a mate for himself? No, according to the movie, he's too ugly. So he finds three eggs that apparently don't belong to anyone and steals them for his own children. He wants to be their mommy. The eggs hatch into dinosaurs and Sid spends a day as an incompetent parent. The natural mom of the babies comes looking for her children and carries them and Sid off to The Land of the Lost, The Land the Time Forgot, or The Journey to the Center of the Earth. Take your pick. Eventually, the natural mother comes to accept Sid as mother to the children as well. Sid tells the mother dinosaur at the end of the movie to take care of "our" kids. Mannie then praises Sid for being a good parent.
Morals: As long as we laugh at implied homosexuality, we can allow our children to accept it and be taught how to express homosexual desires. Two moms is OK. Men can become moms. Stealing children makes them your own. Sid finally accepts that the natural mom is a parent as well. All you have to do to be a good parent is love your children - all failures in parenting will be forgiven because love is enough.
Offense 4 - Testosterone Males Are Evil
The big, bad dinosaur who terrorizes the whole dinosaur kingdom is just an overgrown, testosterone-laden male.
Moral: Any self-expression of male strength is always dangerous to the community.
Offense 5 - Family Can Be Any Group
The first Ice Age movie showed three unlikely heroes come together to form their own "herd." The idea could apply to any close-knit group which comes together to create a stronger whole. Ice Age 3 takes this idea and turns it from group or community, to family.
Moral: Any collection of people who agree to be family, is family. Blood ties are irrelevant. Species is irrelevant. Sexual preference is irrelevant. Legal boundaries are irrelevant. Sanity is irrelevant. Through love, any group can be a family.
To say that these messages are prevalent in Hollywood entertainment is an understatement. To place them so blatantly in a kid's film can only mean one thing. Hollywood producers want these messages inculcated into the minds of our children: marriage is not necessary, homosexual sex is normal, sex holds no taboos and children need to be a party in the discussion, men are incompetent, women are superior, family is merely a social construct unrelated by blood relation, gender is merely a social construct, anyone can be a mommy, love is the only thing a parent needs to succeed.
Write Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp and let them know that you don't appreciate anti-family messages in their family films.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp
10201 West Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California 90035
Mail: P.O. Box 900,
Beverly Hills, California 90213
Phone: 310-277-2211
Fax: 310-203-1558
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