Great family films don't need to be looked at in any special way. In four out of the last five years, my favorite film of the year was a 'family film' (respectively - Speed Racer, Meet The Robinsons, Akeelah And The Bee, and The Incredibles). So I have no problem giving credit to kids films that actually work.

Good family films actually have an advantage. They can't rely on violence, sex, and profanity for their dramatic potency, so they have to do it the old fashioned way - character driven story telling. Assuming the filmmakers care, there is no reason to judge a kids film or a family film different than a 'regular film'.

Giving a pass to dreck like Happily N'ever After just because it's a kids film is like giving a pass to a Sizzler sirloin just cause it's steak. There's good steak and bad steak, and you don't have to tolerate the crap. Why give a pass to Beverly Hills Chihuahua when you can show your kids Babe or Babe: Pig In The City?

Let's take High School Musical as an example. I have not seen the third one yet. But, as an objective viewer, I can tell you that the first one is a pretty decent film, with peppy songs, talented and attractive singers and dancers, plus a genuinely unique moral at its core (that you don't have to define yourself by a single character trait).

However, I can also tell you that the second film is pretty terrible. It has lousy songs, characters that are taken into the realm of camp, a terrible moral (Troy risks losing a college scholarship because his friends are jealous), and a story that forgets that it's a sequel and forces the characters to relearn many of the same lessons. See, because the first one was good, you don't automatically have to give a pass to the (potentially) inferior sequels.

Point being, kids films are a genre like any other. Some are good, some are bad. You don't have to turn off your brain to enjoy a good childrens' movie. So there is no reason to turn off your brain just so you can force yourself to enjoy a bad one. Giving a pass to bad kids films like A Shark Tale or Son Of The Mask is spitting in the face of those who make good, quality family films that don't talk down and don't condescend. If filmmakers don't think they'll get any extra notice for making Ratatouille, what incentive do they have to not keep making Chicken Little?

Scott, first, I didn't give a pass to Happily N'Ever after ... it's an awful, awful film no matter the genre. And I agree with you on HSM2 (noted much the same in my HSM3 review). My point is that there's a segment of film reviewers who will slam a film like HSM3 as dreck simply because they don't get the appeal, and that while there certainly standards for family films, those standards are different than when you're evaluating an arthouse, or even an adult mainstream film.

Re - Happily N'Ever After - I didn't say you did, that was just the first and best example of a hideous cartoon that came to mind.

Apologies if my vitriol seemed aimed at you. It was not, as we agree on the general idea. I just vigorously disagree with the concept that you should automatically slam a film based on its genre, or conversely, let a film off the hook because if its genre ("It may be silly and stupid, but it's just a comic book film").

As to how to evaluate a movie that you're predisposed to not enjoy, I personally say just take it at face value, review it as if it were attempting to win awards. The quality stuff in a given genre will measure up, or at least entertain, and the rest deserves our scorn. Just my two cents.

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