I haven’t seen the WTWTA movie yet (can’t wait. And I want to see to CLOUDY & A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS too. And I never go to children’s movies). But I think this is an interesting short review even though I got sort of lost in the argument:
But this isn’t a coming–of-age movie. In the final scene, it’s joyously unclear whether Max has learned anything from his adventure. One thing that is clear is that, whether scary or sad or belligerent, children should see this movie if for no other reason than as an antidote to movies made by men who want them to grow up.
One reason I think I love YA books so much is that I truly love coming-of-age stories. But I’m interested in the idea that stories about younger kids maybe shouldn’t all be about growing up, but about simply being the age that they portray. You know, the Ramona books are always my gold standard for anything, but I’m now wondering if this is one reason why.
Actually, even in a lot of the YA I love, it sometimes bothers me that the teenagers are like little adults (I’m thinking of Sarah Dessen’s protagonists here, but this is something that bugs me all the time). They have adolescent lives — particularly, they’re under their parents’ control in certain respects — but they have a level of emotional maturity that some of us… lacked. Not that they don’t make mistakes, but they aren’t particularly adolescent mistakes. I’ve been reading so much lately about adults who read YA (like me!), and I wonder how much of this is driven by YA that isn’t really about adolescence at all, except as a metaphor.
-->Feed me text
October 23, 2009 at 9:37 pm
That is why my friend kind of has a hate on for Sarah Dessen books.
October 23, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Hee, hate on. Never heard that before.
October 23, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I’m very curious to hear what you think of the movie – I had some small qualms but otherwise LOVED the way it was so true to the feeling of childhood, something that usually seems so contrived in movies with child characters – even movies aimed at children. I’ve seen several reviews – including the one at the Horn Book website – say that they didn’t think it was a children’s movie. Not that it was inappropriate for children, but that its target audience is adults. I think it’s an all ages kind of thing. Hmm, now I kind of want to watch it again.
October 23, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Ooh, now I’m very curious to see if I think kids would like it. Unfortunately, though, I don’t actually know that much about kids; I love ‘em, but I haven’t spent much time around them. I wish Emily were reading/posting, because she’s really good at articulating stuff about how kids think. Maybe I can convince her that we should blog the movie together.
October 23, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I read an article recently (I wish I could remember where) complaining that WTWTA, Meatballs, and one other recent kids movie (can’t remember that either) were too scary. I haven’t seen the films, but does this seem accurate to you?
October 24, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Blog the movie!
WTWTA might be too scary for a younger child, or a sensitive child, but I think Max is supposed to be 9 in the movie, and I doubt the average 7-10 year old would find it scary at all. The only thing that seemed remotely scary to me was the bit where Max’s boat is in rough water, and that’s brief and he’s totally fine.
October 25, 2009 at 1:37 am
Liz – i’ll totally go see “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” w/ ya! dying to see it, and haven’t had anyone to go with! marshall and i saw WTWTA tonight, and i’m not sure how i feel about it yet. i’m sort of indifferent on the whole “is it for kids or not” argument, b/c it frankly sort of bored me. and little-kid-libby would have definitely been bored. eh, my 2 cents. but let’s go see meatballs!