thanks, michael bay, for ruining my kid's weekend.

henry and marc have been looking forward to this weekend for months: transformer 2 is out, and the boys were so excited.

then i started hearing rumblings that it was a crummy movie. i didn't give it much thought, because quite honestly the boys wanted to see it for special effects, 'bot battles, etc. then i heard the movie was basically michael bay's soft-porn fantasy mixed with convoluted and way-too-long story lines, wrapped up in stroke-inducing quick-flash scenes.

um ...

so last night marc went to see it to check it out first and deem it go or no-go for henry. his answer?

"that thing should have been rated R."

seriously? why do studios do that? why do they take a TOY, turn it into a FRANCHISE, market toys and games and freakin' HAPPY MEALS to kids, then deliver a movie that has robots with balls, slo-mo jiggly boob shots, a girl (granted, a "robot in disguise" one) forcing herself on a guy, some guy knocking on his jock strap cup, etc. these are not things we choose to expose our son to, regardless of whether it's in a movie that's aimed squarely at him.

i hope other parents read the reviews and show their displeasure by boycotting this movie. i'm not for censorship, but i am for showing studios and directors that if they make a movie for kids, make sure it's APPROPRIATE for kids. or at least kids whose parents have values and standards and strive for the same in their children.

Comments

[Rita]

Michele, I totally agree about the movie. I actually took my son (9) on opening day so I hadn't heard any negative reviews. He's seen the first, so I didn't expect the sexual content to be so blatant in this one. Had I seen it first (or even heard from some parents) I wouldn't have taken him. All of the questionable content could have been left out and it wouldn't have taken anything away from the plot. Definitely a lesson learned for me.

[Elisa Nishimura]

Thanks for the warning, Michelle.

[Jane Rife]

Hey Michele! Have you ever heard of the Kids-in-mind website? It's wonderful! I check it all the time for the movies that I want to know a bit more about the content, etc. It gives 3 number ratings (one for sexual stuff, one for violence, one for profanity). Usually if they are below a 6, it's okay, a 6 I'll check into it a bit more and ask people, and usually a no-go for a 7 or above (more so in the sexual category especially, probably because w/ my girls they usually aren't even wanting to go to the violent movies anyways...). Here's the link to the transformers review: http://www.kids-in-mind.com/t/transformersrevengeofthefallen.htm.

[Jane Rife]

That link doesn't seem to want to work for the Transformers review... you can click on that review over on the right sidebar from that page...