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A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR2010-004  (2009), PG [Hard R-PG*] (1hr 20min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1200 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): Josephson Entertainment, New Upstairs Productions, Regency Enterprises, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, Upstairs Canada Productions Distribution (US): Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation Director(s): John Schultz Producer(s): Marc S. Fischer, Joe Hartwick Jr., Barry Josephson, John R. Woodward Screenplay by: Mark Burton, Adam F. Goldberg Story by: Mark Burton Cinematography/Camera: Don Burgess Music: John Debney Film Editing: John Pace Casting: Julie Ashton Production Design: Barry Chusid Art Direction: Nigel Evans Viewed at: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation Home Entertainment DVD  This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of E&HP. Aliens in the Attic, rated PG for "action violence, some suggestive humor and language." Suggestive humor indeed. Like so many other young actresses reaching adulthood, 5' 3" Ashley Michelle Tisdale spends as much screen time as possible in this film with as much exposure as possible -- skin exposure: as much screen time as she may in as little clothing as she may. Well!? She was 24 years old at the time of the film release. That makes it okay, right? Not! Be aware, mom/dad. There is a l-o-t of dress to maximize skin exposure, "teen" skin to skin in swim wear, drawing of viewer attention to the male privates, innuendo about sexual conquest and other forms of challenging the threshold of wholesome sexual humility. So much so that this film earned a R-equivalent score of 17 out of 100 in the Sexual Immorality (S) investigation area. Not one single instance of challenge of wholesome sexual humility was as extreme as are typically found in R-rated films but there were so m-a-n-y of them that, put all together and crammed into a short film (80 minutes of actual movie time), they easily make the magnitude or "feeling" of sexually oriented content of the picture equivalent to the same area in some R-rated films. And the same is true for the violence content as well as the content revealed by the Impudence/Hate (I) and Offense to God (O) investigation areas. Loading or weighting the content of films with "lesser" examples of assault on morality and wholesome ethics to achieve the "feeling" of a film with more extreme content such as that typically found in R-rated films is a relatively new technique of filmmakers. Aliens in the Attic is so much a perfect example of that loading/weighting it earned a final score of 38 which is well within the range of scores earned by R-rated films (54 and below out of 100) in the comparative baseline database of films. Aliens in the Attic is truly a R-PG film, a hard R-PG mainly because of content revealed by the Wanton Violence Crime (W) and Impudence/Hate (I) investigation areas as well as but to a lesser extent the Sexual Immorality (S) and Offense to God (O) investigation areas. Each of those four investigation areas found content to be equivalent in magnitude to the same areas in some R-rated films. And the influence density (ID) earned by this film corroborates the R-PG. This film earned an ID of 1.29 while R-rated films in the comparative baseline database earned ID figures of 0.78 to 2.04 (the larger the ID number the more severe the density of assaults on morality and wholesome ethics). Tom Pearson (Carter Jenkins) is a high school mathlete don'twannabe. He finds himself being targeted for shunning and tormenting by those who are jealous of his brianiac intelligence. Tom wants rather to be cool in the eyes of his peers So, he tanked his grades (failed on purpose) to be more likable by his peers and hacked the school website postings of grades to show passing grades. Trouble is that he was caught by Dad in the act of changing the grades. Tom's dad, Stuart "Stu" Pearson (Kevin Nealon) and mom, Nina (Gillian Vigman) are not okay with that. Dad decides that all the high-tech stuff Tom has is the reason for the distance between he and Tom: that if Tom is smart enough to hack the school website he is smart enough to pass math. Dad hopes that a family vacation of togetherness will heal the schism between he and Tom. So, much to Tom's chagrin, tomorrow morning at sunup the Pearson family will embark on their family vacation to a rented house in Creek Landing, Michigan where fishing lakes -- and aliens -- abound. Young sister Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) calls the aliens "creepy crawlies." In the midst of displays of the "It ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is" attitude, cousin Jake (Austin Robert Butler), twin cousins Art (Henri Young) and Lee (Regan Young), their divorced dad, Stu's brother, Nathan "Nate" Pearson (Andy Richter) show up along with Nana Rose (Doris Roberts). Equally "It ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is" teenage sister Bethany (Ashley Michelle Tisdale) finds that her new boyfriend, calculating and lying Ricky Dillman (Robert Hoffman) shows up with a scheme to spend the evening and possible the night with the Pearsons. Ricky had shown up earlier outside Tom's bedroom window as he brought Ashley home after a sneak "date." Tom was in the process of hacking the school website grade postings when Ashley snuck in Tom's window -- with a threat to kill Tom ... with a "swear to God" of course ... if Tom told on her. We were first introduced to Ricky when he sexted a picture of himself nude from the waist up to Ashley as the family drove to Creek Landing. Now, feigning car trouble, Ricky is invited to spend the night with the Pearsons. Tom recognizes Ricky's true intent and ends up, at the goad of Jake, paintballing Ricky ... in the privates, of course, which led to a lot of screen time and script on attention to Ricky's privates and innuendo about Ashley becoming Ricky's private nurse for his "injuries." Ashley was rubbing oil on Ricky as this happened after blaming the sun for all the heat and taking his shirt off in front of Ashley who was noticeably aroused by Ricky's maneuver. Hail, hail the gang's all here now. Except the aliens. An agitated Nana Rose saw that the TV was on the blink. Stu calmed his mother and told her the problem is probably the dish antenna. Dad told Tom to fix it. Ricky jumped in on the opportunity to make points with Ashley's parents and offered to help. But once at the sky window access to the dish antenna Ricky lowered his "nice guy" facade and maneuvered Tom into going out on the roof alone to fix the dish. On the roof, Tom noticed the dish was shattered and scorched. This was the cinematic connection with an earlier scene of the alien ships landing on the Pearson's roof during an electrical storm. Joined by Jake, the pair are the first to meet the Zirconians, at least Sparky (voice of Josh Peck), the alien engineer who greeted the hu-mans with a pleasant personality. Soon, the rest of the Zirconian scout force; the Commander, Tazor (Thomas Haden Church - All About Steve, Spider-Man 3) and Razor (Kari Wahlgren) appear with the intent to kill the human race to take over the "luscious" planet earth. Why is not said and by the caliber of this entertainment is not needed. From there the shenanigans begin. To discuss this story in any more detail would be belaboring the matter. Please look to the individual investigation area discussions below and especially to the listings in the Findings/Scoring section - the heart of the CAP analysis model - for the most complete accounting of the content of this film on the Internet. By this report, you should be in a better position to make an informed moral decision whether this film is fit for your family or other audience in your care Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 There is considerably meanness exhibited by the aliens, mostly toward each other. Numerous sequences of action violence invade the screen, mostly of the "slapstick" caliber, but a few are somewhat brutal for a PG audience. Nate Pearson brings illegal fireworks to the family vacation -- his son, Jake uses them. There is also alien weapon fire at children, at the elderly and at police. A long sequence of two "zombie-ized" characters fighting each other with impossible martial arts antics happens styled after the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and other more recent movies presenting fantasy martial arts antics. Jake is abducted and bound. All instances of violence are free of blood but they are still violence. In addition to God's warning about feeding our minds with violence [Prov. 16:29], four American professional health agencies report, whether intentional or even knowing it, God is right about the negative effects as are imparted by this film [1 Cor. 15:33]. The key "measurable negative effects of children's exposure to violent entertainment" reported by the agencies include: • Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts. Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume the acts of violence are acceptable behavior. • Viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization towards violence in real life. It can decease the likelihood that one will take action on behalf of a victim when violence occurs. • Entertainment violence feeds a perception that the world is a violent and mean place. Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, with a resultant increase in self-protective behavior and a mistrust of others. • Viewing violence may lead to real life violence. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed. What is "children?" From a Biblical perspective, children are His little ones. "Little ones" is mikros, meaning little of age, less by birth, younger. That includes all your children. Compared to you as a parent, your children are and always will be by birth of less age than you, younger. "Children", therefore, includes at-home teens. Teens, note that the definition of mikros speaks also to small size (stature) when speaking to children typically being smaller than their parents. But just because you may become taller or bigger than your parents does not mean you are no longer a "little one." Nor, by other verses, may your parents use "little one" at you as a weapon or term of belittlement. Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 There were none of the typical three/four word vocabulary in this film but several times incomplete phrases of profanity were used. But teen hacking of an official website, teen deceit toward parents, teen arrogance at parental control, teen sneaking against parental rules, all the lying and a plethora of the "It ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is expressions and attitudes drug the area score of this investigation area from the starting 100 to zero. [Ps. 101:7, Eph. 5:4, Mark 7:20 - 23, Prov. 8:13, Isa. 13:11] Sexual Immorality (S) - 17 out of 100 Also losing enough points to earn an area score equivalent to the magnitude of some R-rated features is the sexual immorality content. Tisdale often wears clothing to maximize the female form and/or skin exposure. She participates in skin to skin contact with Dillman. The pair do things and say things together and individually that can only be understood as being of the sexual nature (e.g., Bethany being "private nurse" for Ricky's injured privates). This film clearly contains enough of the "lesser" examples of sexually immoral imagery, deed and comment to equal the magnitude of the sexual content typical of some R-rated films. Compare this concept to building a stone wall. It can be built with a few sections of stacked concrete or hundreds of small bricks. The bottom line is the wall gets built. Aliens in the Attic has been built with hundreds of small bricks. [1 John 2:26, Mark 7:21, Gal. 5:19 and many more] Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 83 out of 100 Nate has beer, talks about getting more and drinks some. That is all the Drugs/Alcohol (D) content of the film. But that is enough to alert you to a finding of the American College of Physicians (ACP) regarding alcoholic consumption in and as entertainment for youth. [Eph. 5:18] The American College of Physicians (ACP) has found that exposure to booze and drinking in and as entertainment emboldens the viewer, in particular the middle school age stratum, the PG and PG-13 age stratum, to challenge the law and experiment with alcohol. Though the ACP study used R-rated films since it was believed R-rated films contained the most drinking, the focus is on the influence of exposure to alcohol in and as entertainment regardless of the film rating. Besides, the ACP researchers were not aware of R-13 which defeats the assumption that R-rated films present the most drinking and drunkenness. A finding by Harvard University agreed with our R-13 finding, four years after our finding. Within the ACP study population of 4544 middle school students (90% were under fourteen years old), the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was Rather revealing of the influences of the entertainment industry wouldn't you say? And emboldening children to sin with drink in and as entertainment screams of violating Luke 17:2. Offense to God (O) - 29 out of 100 Seven uses of God's name in vain but all without the four letter expletive. The biggest problem with this is that 6 of them were spoken by adolescents. I wonder if their parents knew God has angels watching over His little ones ... and those angels behold the face of God. I wonder what the angels who watch over the children performers of this film had to say to God about their parents? [Matt. 18:10] Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 There were no murders or suicides. Attempted murders or attempted suicides are not incorporated into this investigation area. The actions that could be viewed as attempted murders by the aliens were incorporated into the Wanton Violence/Crime investigation area. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 17 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 83 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - 29 out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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