I don’t usually post about movies here, and this is my review of a movie that’s been out for some time.  You see, we saw this movie yesterday at some friends’ house, and I was disturbed by the movie and feel the need to share.

I have heard many people rave about this movie.  It’s supposed to be a kids’ movie, but it’s rated PG.  It’s the first Pixar film I didn’t really care for.  It’s “Big Hero Six”.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet and are thinking about seeing it, you might not want to read any farther, as there will be spoilers in the rest of this post.

What did I find so disturbing?  Hero is the main character.  He and his brother live with their aunt because their parents died some time ago.  Then Hero’s brother dies in an explosion and Hero is right there to witness it.  I found this very disturbing as an adult, let alone for a child.

Hero finds that his brother’s robot was in their home and he makes a new program for the robot because he wants it to help him find and catch the guy who is responsible for the explosion that killed his brother.  Four of his brother’s friends also get involved.

Long story short, Hero enters into a time warp type thing to rescue the daughter, of the bad guy, who is got stuck in there and the robot sensed that she was in there.  The robot goes in with him and then the robot has to be left behind in order for Hero and the girl to get out in time.  So, yet another loss for Hero.  Yet, the bad guy gets his daughter back, even though he’s going to jail.

In the end, Hero finds that in the robot’s hand, (the only thing that he has left of the robot), is the original program his brother designed for the robot, so he is able to recreate another robot.  That’s supposed to be the happy ending.

Why do I find this movie so disturbing?  Because I have three adopted children who suffered neglect, rejection and abandonment in their pasts.  A child like that watching a movie like “Big Hero Six” may suffer those feelings anew watching the loss that Hero went through.  If I had known what the movie was like, I wouldn’t have allowed our youngest to watch it.  He’s a very sensitive child as so as it is.  However, because we did watch it, I did speak with him about it, and he seems to be fine.

On the other hand, there was also another child present who has suffered a lot of loss in his/her life and is going through struggles with grieving some of those losses right now, and I can’t help but wonder if it was wise for that child to see it, although the parents said that the child had seen it before.

So, I know that most people would think nothing of watching this movie with their children, but being the mom of children with hurtful pasts makes me much more aware and sensitive to things that could be a problem for them.  We’ve experienced upsets with two of our three children, in the past, over movies we sat down to watch with them that we thought would be okay, so we can’t always even be sure of what may or may not upset them, but it certainly makes me more careful.

My older two sons had no problem with the movie and thought that I was over reacting because Hero still was able to have the robot and he had his brother’s friends, to which I said, “Yeah, but they weren’t family.”  I don’t think I’m over reacting because  I don’t believe we can be too careful with the tender, sensitive hearts and spirits of our children.

One of my favorite movies to watch with my children is “Lilo and Stitch”.  It has a wonderful message for children with hurtful backgrounds and/or behavioral issues.

Have you ever seen a movie you found disturbing that everyone thought was a great movie for kids?   Do you know of any movies that have a good message for children who have had hurtful pasts?