Post-Bambi slaying: the dark side of children’s cinema

You would be forgiven for not knowing when the film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are is coming out – it was, in fact, completed way back in 2006 and won’t be released until this October. So, why are we still waiting?

The film was delayed because of a negative response from audience tests. It wasn’t that it was bad, it’s that it was “too scary”. The film is based on a children’s book released in 1963, so it was thought that a film aimed at children would follow. No?

The film studios have some cause for concern – family outings to the cinema account for a big chunk of their revenue. Disney were so afraid of upsetting children that they waited 52 years after killing Bambi’s mother to kill off another parent in The Lion King.

And ever since Bambi’s mother met her maker in the form of a hunter’s shotgun, the children’s film genre has continued to explore darker territory. The Harry Potter series, for example, has been criticised by some for being too frightening for younger viewers. From the third film onwards, the films took a darker turn, causing concern from parents but vastly superior critical reaction.

3D animation Coraline, which will be released here on May 8, 2009 has attracted the same fears.

Then there is the Batman franchise. Once bright and colourful family affairs, director Christopher Nolan came on board and revamped the films into murky crime dramas that alienated children, but became critical darlings.

Renowned film critic Roger Ebert surmises that dark themes in children’s films aren’t exactly a new trend. “Consider the deaths in Bambi, or Mrs Jumbo’s chaining in Dumbo. Reflect, too, that an alarming number of today’s kids routinely see slasher and horror movies.”

Children’s films are growing increasingly less innocent. But at the same time, they seem to be getting better and better. Just don’t expect a children’s slasher movie any time soon.