Cranial Gunk

Just before the recent Christmas holiday, Jennifer at Retrevo.com sent out a list of “Epic Nerd-Approved Movies for Kids.” It concluded a longer list of overall Nerd-Approved Movies (scroll to the bottom of their list for the kids movies). It included (in my opinion) some great movies like The Goonies, The Secret of Nimh, The Witches, and The Dark Crystal. It also included some questionable cinematic ventures like Mac and Me and Titan AE.

It left out all of the Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movies that are my family’s favorites.

I’m the worst when it comes to “kid appropriate.” My rating system involves my guessing at what will and will not give my children nightmares.

I’ve already written about the time I read my eldest Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. But there is also the time my eldest and I watched Toby Maguire’s Spider-man. He might have been three. I didn’t see the harm. I was comfortable with the level of violence and there was no sexually suggestive nudity. The movie quickly became his favorite and he asked to watch it repeatedly.

Then one time, during one of the viewings he screamed for me to turn it off. But it wasn’t the depiction of the Green Goblin or the fighting that suddenly scared him – It was too early in the movie. The scene that frightened him despite his seeing it several times before was the scene where Peter is bitten by the spider! Somewhere between this current viewing and the last time he saw the movie, he became afraid of spider bites.

He can watch the entire Spider-man movie now but the incident has left me fearful. I have become acutely sensitive to every gasp and jerk he and his brother make when they watch a movie.

To be fair, Jennifer did include Princess Mononoke on her overall Nerd-Approved list. She put it in the “A Flair for the Dramatic” along with some of my favorite movies (Gattaca, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Donnie Darko). I don’t know why Mac and Me beat out Kiki’s Delivery Service or Spirited Away for a spot on her Kids list.

I bought the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection on Ebay several years ago after watching Turner Classic Movies festival of Hayao Miyazaki movies. They showed both dubbed and subtitled versions of my favorite Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Tortoro — my youngest used to refer to this as the “girl gòhgō (big brother)and me” movie — Princess Mononoke — my eldest calls this the “Bloody Movie” — and Laputa: Castle in the Sky – my eldest says this is his favorite movie. The festival also introduced me to Pom Poko and Porco Rosso.

When the kids can’t decide which movie to watch, I tell them, “We’re watching Pom Poko.” They’ll whine about how they didn’t get their choice but 10 minutes into the movie – slack-jawed silence. They are enthralled by the antics and the chanting of the cutely drawn raccoons and are soon spellbound watching the raccoons fight the humans to maintain their land and fight among themselves to determine how to best fight the humans to protect their land. The movie is comic enough to make its message of conservation and environmentalism, mild violence, and raccoon “pouches” (testicles) that some found overbearing or outright offensive, kid appropriate.

Wikipedia provides a detailed summary of the story.

Pom Poko is not in the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection but can be bought separately. The movies included in the Collection are:

1. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
2. My Neighbor Tortoro
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Spirited Away
6. Kiki’s Delivery Service
7. Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso is about a “cursed” pilot who leaves the Italian Air Force to become a bounty hunter. It’s never explained outright why he is cursed but the curse gives him the face of a pig (which along with pieces of dialogue might help us guess at a cause). In the summary provided at Wikipedia, his guilt from losing his best friend in battle is cited as the cause of his curse.

The kids never ask about this. They never ask why Porco Rosso is a pig among humans. They take it for granted that cartoon animals and cartoon humans coexist on the same plane on screen. The aerial battle scenes and chases are enough to bait them into watching long enough to be engaged by the movie’s emotional themes like the sense of duty in conflict with the truth of the matter.

Another testament to Hayao Miyazaki’s talent and those at Studio Ghibli is of all the DVDs and Blu Rays I’ve bought since  the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection, it continues to have the highest “re-watch value” among my family. Whether its because we’re staying in due illness or short ill-conceived holiday or simple exhaustion, when there is nothing particularly engaging on Netflix and TV, a Studio Ghibli film is a surefire way for my kids and I to pass the time.

What’s your favorite Studio Ghibli movie? What movies have a high re-watch value at your house?

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

Among the highlights of the 2011 New York Comic Con is the preview my children and I saw of Cartoon Network’s Green Lantern: The Animated Series. It had all of the personal and interpersonal issues that make a story interesting to adult audiences and enough explosions and fight scenes to keep younger audiences from fidgeting in their seats.

The issue that I hope they will continue to pursue in the series is the social inequities between the members of the Green Lantern Corps. The story begins at the edge of the universe. We learn through conversation between characters that those Green Lantern Corps members at the edge of the universe (and furthest from Oa, the Green Lantern home planet) receive less training than other Green Lanterns.

As an educator, this “training” issue immediately resonated with me. I equate it to the inequities in the American school system — zoning restrictions, class size, afterschool programs, universal Pre-K programs – issues directly and indirectly related to Brown v. the Board of Ed.

The Red Lanterns, the villains in this series, begin their attack at the edge of the universe. While the Guardians, the overseers of the Green Lanterns, are aware of these attacks they don’t see an immediate need to send help. It’s the impulsiveness of rookie Lantern, Hal Jordan, Earth’s Green Lantern (just in case you didn’t know yet), that provides a preventative step towards resolving the problem.

Both Hal and the Red Lantern rookie, Razor, are catalysts of change – fresh perspectives asking new questions of old biases and habits. And there is that one “rebel” Guardian who covertly assists Hal with his plans – someone from the current order who also doesn’t believe the status quo is infallible or unchangeable.

In education, this change is called “reform.” It’s also the current media buzzword news personalities use to sound informed about issues impacting education.

But its not just these higher order issues that make the Green Lantern series a good one. It’s the humor and what it reveals about human nature. One scene in particular sticks in my mind. It’s the scene where Green Lanterns Kilowog and Hal have just rescued an “edge of the universe” Green Lantern  and are introducing themselves. After Hal introduces himself, Kilowog interjects something to the effect of “Don’t mind the mask. He wears it so no one he knows will recognize him. As if one of his friends would be flying around in outer space.”

It’s best that you watch the show and hear it for yourself. My retelling doesn’t do it justice. Not only can’t I remember the exact lines. I have also taken it out of context and as a result ruined its timing (which is important in comedy). 

For those unfamiliar with the Green Lantern, this clip from the Challenge of the Super Friends gives you a quick no frills version of his origin:

Green Lantern: The Animated Series premieres on Cartoon Network this Friday, November 11, 2011.