Disney and the Seduction of the Innocent!
 

Award-winning film director Gurinder Chadha is calling for more films to be made specifically for children, claiming that blockbusters made by companies such as Disney have lost a sense of 'innocence and wonderment' because they are filled with 'in-jokes' aimed at adults ...

'One of the head guys at Disney categorically said to me, "We don't want to make children's films any more. We want to make films that are going to appeal to all quadsrant",' ...

... 'Hence you have films like Shrek and all the Pixar stuff, which is designed to suit everybody.'

The trend has an unacknowledged downside, she added. 'They probably lose the innocence and the wonderment. Because, for adults, the gags have to be knowing. Children kind of get them because they live in this celebrity world, but there is a lost sense of innocence.'

Chadha, 47, cited her memories of a childhood favourite of her own, a little-known Disney film called Pablo and the Dancing Chihuahua, about a Mexican boy travelling with his dog. 'I was transported to Mexico and to the desert, to this happy little dog and to this boy trying to go on an adventure,' she said. 'Now that was a proper kids film.

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Footnotes:

Who will protect our children?

Not this man. And don't trust his cries of free lolly!

This man can no long help your children and no amount of Happy Meals will change that.

This man used to beat his children with his work shoe when they were bad. When they were good he would beat them with his rubber shoe.

Dr. Frederic Wertham tried to warn you but you didn't listen. And now he is dead.

Millionaire Phil Gramm won't help us and can we please stop whining about it?

With nowhere to go, babies turn to religion

Is Highlight Magazine trying to wide their "quadrant"?

Is this the quadrant Disney is hoping will attend its movies?

How many F-bombs does Brendan Fraser drop in his "children's" movie Journey to the Center of the Earth?

Child photographed exiting Wall-E ... will she ever recover? What effect will it have on her precious child's size brain?

I've lost my sense of 'innocence and bewilderment' because this thread are filled with chewy nougat.

Pablo and the Dancing Chihuahua? I'll say it's a little known Disney film. Absolutely no one seems to know of it. (On the other hand, we may only wish we had never heard of Beverly Hills Chihuahua before long.)

We saw a trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua...I kinda want to see it.

Hey! That movie is putting bacon-flavored soy material on my dinner table, thank you very much!

Okay, I'll rescind my cynicism about BHC. Any movie that puts faux-bacon on LSPE's table is fine by me.

My kid is chomping at the bit for that movie. She keeps singing the damn song!
Thanks LSPE! ;)

Added: LSPE, I like how the site has the disclaimer about being responsible about dog ownership!

Whatever pays the bills, eh? ;) Just kidding. The trailer was actually rather cute, and not at all vomit inducing, as I had feared.

The Guardian didn't even hit IMDb to see if "Dancing Chihuahua" even existed?? Ha. Remind me why we need the major news outlets for quality reporting again?

I've found "Pablo and the Dancing Chihuahua" listed as an episode of the Disneyland program in 1968. Can anyone confirm? Anyone seen it? (I'm looking at you, mousepod.)

Coming from a generation that watched Bambi's mom get blown away and the death of Old Yeller, I say stop already with the over protective "precious" child BS. Her brain will be just fine unless it's filled with an endless parade of happy sappy slop.

Chihuahua!
:D

I haven't seen it (well, maybe on TV when I was 6, but I don't remember it). Here's what Bill Cotter has to say about it in his Disney Television book:

Was this really a song before the new movie? I can't imagine it....

Hasn't GC posted it in another thread before? I could have sworn I'd already watched it (which is why I didn't finish watching it).

My desire to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua is the same as my desire to watch "Rosie O'Donnell goes to the Gynecologist in 3-D"

The only scene I recall is when they're riding in the back of a truck in the desert and go to drink some milk and find that it had gone sour - it was very sad and I never drank milk again

I've seen it. Several times. It was always one of my favorite Wonderful World of Disney's - of course it was, it involved a dog!

Is that one in Imax ?

It sure was. It was #1 in France when iSm, zappp and I were in France in 2003. The song was everywhere. When we were in the queue for DLP's Big Thunder Mountain, someone on the overhead speaker sang the intro melody and then everyone around us yelled, "Chihuahua!" It was like some sort of DJ Bobo cult or something...
:D
Yes, I'm sure I did. The song is a total earworm. Stuck in my head forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and knitting and knitting and knitting...
:D

The neighbors down the street had a chihuahua (which fascinated me), so I remember being very excited when that particular episode of Wonderful World of Color (not Disneyland) came on. It ran a couple of times, at least.