Also, the PTC would be a great parody if it wasn’t the genuine article.

I think the reason kid’s movies often have some PG material thrown in is to make it bearable for adults sitting in the audience with their kids, not to grind their media axes.

I’ve noticed that trend of putting in one or two “mature” comments into an otherwise benign movie. I’m pretty sure they do that to get the PG rating. Being rated G is the kiss of death (I don’t know why; I never look at the ratings when I decide what to see.), so they deliberately throw in something to kick it up to a PG. I don’t think one “damn” or “meat” reference is going to hurt anyone, but it is unnecessary.

I have been rather annoyed by some things in certain kids’ movies (particularly of Disney origin) that really shouldn’t be there, but I don’t think that’s a recent addition. An example is the new “That Darn Cat” (‘99 or so), in which there’s a scene where the guy is trying to lure the cat with a piece of meat. At one point he says something about his meat over a radio–something any juvenile would immediately catch onto, but is completely harmless taken in context. Not really a problem, but I would have re-worded the script anyway. Then, the other guy says something to the effect of “you shouldn’t talk like that with kids present!” (the girl was with him). That line was completely unnecessary, wasn’t funny (well, ok, it *is* a dumb movie), and points out that Disney intentionally put the part about “meat” in there as a specific sexual innuendo; something I don’t think belongs in a kids’ movie. To be fair it’s rated PG, but the movie is very obviously supposed to be a family movie.

Movies such as Shrek are “family” movies, but make no pretenses about their target of older kids and adults, and watching the previews should let any parent know they might want to review it before letting youngsters watch it. Plus, the movie is filled with that stuff; putting a single lewd comment in an otherwise benign movie is just dumb. Like The Black Stallion (I think number 2–been a long time since I’ve seen those), where they don’t use any kind of “offensive” language, then say “damn” right at the end. Really, even though the PG rating did reflect this, it’s unnecessary and offensive to some people, and again it’s a kids’ movie.

But obviously that has nothing to do with whether there is offensive content available on the TV during “family hour”. I don’t mind if they want to clean up certain kids’ channels to make them more kid-friendly, but if I were a TV watcher, I would be pissed if I couldn’t find anything but kids’ shows on any channel for an hour every night. Since I’m not a TV watcher, I wouldn’t mind the ban of MTV every night; that would give me a chance to play the XBOX once in a while.

There are plenty of other much more healthy and beneficial ways to get your entertainment. Why does it have to be TV? If you don’t like, don’t watch! It’s that simple!