Oz should scare the crap out of your kids

Well, I went to see "Oz, the Great and Powerful," and... I liked it.  My friend Betsy, however, was not so keen.  With all the press swirling around about it's inappropriateness for younger children, she expected something more akin to the original. Walking out of the theater she actually said, "I should have realized it was going to be a prequel."  And, true to form, there were dumb shit parents who chose to ignore all of the press and take little kids.  They sat several rows behind us and I can tell you, the children were not at all happy.  Don't people pay attention to news, or are they just plain stupid?  Wait, why am I even asking the question when the answer is so obvious?  Could the answer be yes to both queries?  That don't pay attention and they are stupid? I think yes.  Still, one has to ponder if this is the true intention of the film's director:  make a film which stupid, inattentive adults will take their children to see so the children will be traumatized for life.  Or maybe the thought was something might be learned.  While that may have been true of the original, I don't know if that's true here.  Dorothy learned through her trials and tribulations and scares that "there's no place like home."  I mean, what do we learn from the new Oz film?

Take the kiddies, the scares are worth it

Let's see... Well, siblings can't be trusted, (there's nothing new there).    In times of need different people work together for a single purpose, (we've all seen this before).  You can overcome your adversaries without resorting to violence (remember 'make love not war?).  Life is scary sometimes, so just deal with it.  Wait a minute, what was that last one? The idea that life is scary?  Is this something we've actually been teaching our children?  How many times have you heard a parent say, "let them enjoy their childhood, they'll be adults soon enough?"  I think this is a big problem in today's United States.  We want our children sensitized.  Define this as our not training our children to deal with heartache and hardship. You should prepare you children for everything.  Disney knew this.  He made kids cry on purpose.  He taught us lessons our parents didn't want us to learn.  Maybe the parents I wrote about earlier weren't such dumb shits after all... Nah, they were, but by being so maybe the scares of "Oz, the Great and Powerful" taught their frightened kids a lesson or two.