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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 MAR2010.014  (2009), PG [PG*] (1hr 33min) 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): Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, Playtone, Wild Things Productions • Distribution (US): Warner Home Video • Director(s): Spike Jonze • Producer(s): Bruce Berman, John B. Carls, Natalie Farrey, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Jon Jashni, Vincent Landay, Scott Mednick, Maurice Sendak, Thomas Tull, Emma Wilcockson • Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers • Book: Maurice Sendak • Cinematography/Camera: Lance Acord • Music: Carter Burwell, Karen Orzolek • Film Editing: James Haygood, Eric Zumbrunnen • Casting: Justine Baddeley, Kim Davis • Production Design: K.K. Barrett • Art Direction: Sonny Gerasimowicz, William Hawkins, Christopher Tandon, Lucinda Thomson, Jeffrey Thorp (supervising art director) • Viewed on Warner Home Video DVD  This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of E&HP. In keeping with the family-friendly posture of Blockbuster, they provided the DVD for this analysis. This DVD is scheduled for release on March 9, 2010 The filmmakers did a great job of telling a story that cannot be told; a great job of saying in film what cannot be said in words. And they kept the overall content truly equivalent to films in the comparative baseline database that earned PG-equivalent scores. But beware of the rather strong content in violence and in matters of arrogance/rebellion: in impudence. Indeed, these two investigation areas -- Wanton Violence/Crime and Impudence Hate -- found content to be equivalent to many R-rated films, not in extremeness or boldness of content as is typical in R-rated features but in magnitude (number of) of examples. Young malcontent Max (Max Records) has lost all his coping skills to his hatred of his family life: an emotionally abusive sister Claire (Pepita Emmerichs) and a divorced mother (Catherine Keener) entertaining a man who is not his father. Max is hurting and lashes out in the only way he thinks he knows how -- by destructive outburst and by running away. Taking a small sailing boat to sea Max finds himself in great trouble in a storm. Not long after the storm begins Max is shipwrecked on what is implied to be an uninhabited island. But he soon finds out it is inhabited indeed -- by monsters. Very strong monsters who are, of course, engaged in destructive outbursts. It appears Max is dreaming and is projecting his own feelings on to fantasy brutes. But there is a risk. No where in the film is it said clearly or even strongly implied Max is dreaming. Only with experiential maturity can one fully discern the story is fantasy. For example, the flesh is ripped off the arm of one of the characters who only griped and pouted that it was his favorite arm. As adults we know this is not possible. As adults we also know that fantasy monster cannot be real. But what about the toddler or adolescent whose grasp on reality is still a little blurry? Drs. Karen Nelson, head of a major university psychology department and Larry Gilliam, a practicing counselor both agree with me that it would be unusual for even a 16 year old to be able to fully separate fantasy from reality or fully anticipate the consequences of their actions: that such skills do not typically plateau until the early 20s. Why do you suppose the legal drinking age is 21 in every state of America and that most high-risk jobs do not permit teenagers? While I do believe the average teenager can easily determine the level of this story and the characters are all fantasy I am not so sure about toddlers and preteens. Maybe they only look like monsters because Max projects them and thus has no fear of them. Max quickly befriends them and, after a short "Eat you!" prologue, they befriend max. So much so Max becomes their king. Max boasts of great powers to help the monsters. One of Max's first campaigns as king is for the monsters to build a castle, a fortress to defend against all the nasties of the world. Beyond that, the story is most difficult to describe due to the characters using down-to-earth, adolescent social warfare that covers many levels. Each of the monsters serve a specific and well-defined role in the plot and for the most part perform exactly as most parents have seen in any adolescent, appropriate to the level of intellect and behavior mechanics of the average adolescent. The huge lumbering goliaths of personified animals - the monsters - show love and hate, are jealous and compassionate, are hurtful and helpful, are vindictive and protective. The personality and mannerisms of the monsters are amplified by the outstanding voice talents of high wattage performers such as Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Paul Dana, Catherine O'Hara and Forest Whitaker. While it is slightly inappropriate to laud "monsterism" this film is fantasy enough to not likely confuse the sense of reality of most older adolescents. Younger adolescents and toddlers will not likely be able to understand much of what the film communicates anyway. However, they should be able to grasp the meaning of not only the love and friendship but the lying, bickering, lashing out and hateful mannerisms as well since such are basal in nature. The movements and actions of the monsters were impeccable, even the eyelid and all other facial movements of the monsters were intricate and most lifelike. But it is the "natural-looking" features of the monsters that may lead young children to not fully grasp the fantasy intent of the film. While I will not make any recommendations about viewing a film, I will ask that you inspect our findings about the content of this film before you decide on which age stratum is appropriate, if any. The MPAA may say "May not be suitable for children" but it is not their call whether the film is fit for your children, it is your call, mom/dad. We tell you the truth about the content so you might be in a better position to make an informed moral decision whether a piece of entertainment is or is not fit: we tell you the truth the trailers, the MPAA, previews, advertisers, etc. can't or won't tell. We tell you what is there -- you decide. For those who don't like lists, following are brief descriptions of the findings made by each investigation area. Detailed listings of the findings are provided in the Findings/Scoring section (the heart of the CAP analysis model), always the best itemization of findings. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - 35 out of 100 Violence is utilized initially as Max acts out his aggression, displaying poor coping skills. Max is a puppet of the stormy sea as he tries to run away in a sail boat. The monsters speak of eating him because they love him and having eaten past kings repeatedly. Fantasy gore comes also as the story speaks of cutting out brains and legs off and as a character's arm flesh gets ripped off its bones leaving denuded bones where the arm was (no blood). Note that just because an act is supposed to be funny does not mean it is. To some it might be, to others it won't be. As parents we probably know that a bad influence does not have to be real to influence badly. Any form or severity of violence (or crime) in and as entertainment is, by God's Word [1 Cor. 15:33] and by the "word" of several professional heath agencies, a bad influence. Experiencing it in the larger-than-life framework of cinema in a no-consequence world of a comfy chair with a box of popcorn can truly desensitize the viewer, especially the young. Impudence/Hate (I) - 35 out of 100 Three times one of the monsters utter some form of profanity. Casual snippets of profanity are just as sinful as profanity screamed. Intent (of language) does not excuse content. God is repeatedly against any form of profanity. [Col. 3:8 for one] And to have such demonstration in a "kid's film" screams of violating Luke 17:2 as well. Of content as invasive as the violence was the impudent and hateful content: the adolescent disrespect against a parent; an adolescent lashing out in spite of the risks; several demonstrations of a young boy acting out of control; a young boy running away with hatred yelling "I HATE you" to his mother then sailing alone out to sea with storm peril. While God warns parents not to bring their children to wrath [Eph. 6:4] children are to obey and show only respect to their parents. [Eph. 6:1 - 3, Prov. 13:24] And woe to the parent who abuses their charge! [Luke 17:2] Sexual Immorality (S) - 100 out of 100 Nothing of a sexually immoral nature was noted throughout the 93 minutes of the film. Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 96 out of 100 Max's mom and her boyfriend have a glass of wine each as she entertains her boyfriend one evening. The American College of Physicians (ACP) have found that any exposure to alcoholic beverages in and as entertainment can and does influence the young to likewise drink alcoholic beverages. The ACP finding involved 4454 middle school aged youth (90% were under 14) and found that of the students who had no restrictions on their entertainment diet 46% had tried alcohol without their parents' knowledge. The ACP further found that of the student population who had complete restrictions on their entertainment diet only 4% had tried alcohol without their parents' knowledge. That screams boldly and clearly of the influence of alcohol in and as entertainment and of such exposure violating Luke 17:2 ... again. We may not take our responsibility to our children lightly, folks. Note that the researchers selected R-rated films in their study because they assumed that R-rated films resent more alcohol in and as entertainment. However! The focus is that the influence of alcohol in and as entertainment regardless of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classification is now proven: that the focus is the emboldening influence of adolescent exposure to drinking (and smoking) in and as entertainment regardless of the MPAA classification is undeniable. While it is not a sin to drink, it is a sin to drink in excess [Eph. 5:18] AND to influence the young to drink. The issue is do not abuse the body by intoxicating it [1 Cor. 6:19]. Further, while the ACP feels it is exposure to alcohol in and as entertainment which causes youth to violate law and rule with alcohol, I find the influence is much deeper and is more the attitude associated with the display of drinking (and any other aberrant behaviors) in films, especially the portrayal of underage drinking in films. Usually such display is with the teen-desirable [Prov. 22:15] arrogant disregard for rule and law and the "I don't care what you do to me" rebellion. More on the influence of attitudes in entertainment and of the common threads in most entertainment: freedom from authority, freedom from accountability and freedom from consequences; the stealing of childhood from children is discussed in ATTITUDE: In Perspective -- Investigation Area Scoring and Trend in CAP Entertainment Industry Investigations. Offense to God (O) - 71 out of 100 God's name in spoken in vain four times and each before a child. Though each time His name was spoken in vain it was without the four letter expletive. [Deut. 5:11] Murder/Suicide (M) - 100 out of 100 There were no murders or suicides noted at all. 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) - 35 out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - 35 out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 100 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 96 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - 71 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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