Here’s the email I sent to Kids-In-Mind about We Bought A Zoo

This email is the one referenced in the post entitled First TV, now the movies – what’s left to watch with my girl?

TO: comments@kids-in-mind.com
I just wanted to take a moment to write to tell you how much I appreciate your Kids-in-Mind app on my iPhone. I’ve used it AND recommended it countless times to family and friends as an invaluable tool in determining a movie’s appropriateness for children. Your meticulously detailed description of anything ‘questionable’ (including such benign examples as ‘a man and a woman hug’ or ‘name calling – pathetic, idiot, hobos’) allows me to take complete comfort in the fact that there will be no surprises or unexpected issues waiting for me to explain to my kids during or after the movie.

Until today.

You missed a big one in the scene about midway through the movie where the Father (Damon) is arguing with his 14-year-old son just outside the younger sister’s bedroom. To paraphrase, the father is telling his son he needs to pull it together since his mother’s death and stop being so dark all the time. And he says something like, “Your seven-year-old sister still believes in the Easter Bunny, for Pete’s sake!”

Hello? I did not see that one coming. And, just in case my daughter didn’t pick up on it the first time, the little girl in the movie then exits her bedroom and says, “What about the Easter Bunny?”

Trust me when I say these kinds of surprises upset parents even more than a bad word. Please take note of my strong suggestion to include a warning for this and all movies that, for whatever reason, risk giving a little too much away to young viewers. This information has NO business being included in any PG or below movie.

In the end, I think I did a nice job of damage control with my daughter and we enjoyed the movie (despite its mixed reviews). Again, I truly value and will continue to count on and recommend your site for sound and complete information. In return, I would greatly appreciate a response to my email.

Thanks for your time,

Michele …..

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2 responses to “Here’s the email I sent to Kids-In-Mind about We Bought A Zoo

  1. Friend of mine used to go see a movie himself before bringing his kids to see it.
    It worked for him…

  2. Well written email, ODNT. I know I gasp when we are watching a kid targeted movie and they say “hell” or “ass”. Drives me nuts! Is it necessary?

    I wrote an email to Lego right before Christmas expressing my disappointment in their Lego Advent Calendar. You’d think it was Christmas themed right? Nope. Cops, robbers, robbers with get away cars, a safe with gold in it (no joke, I took a pic), a robber with a crow bar (to bust open the safe of course), police men with guns. Awesome. What the heck was the message? ‘Tis the season to be scared? What bugged me was that my daughter lost interest and was disappointed. I just started giving her a piece of chocolate instead. Their response to my email was a form letter mixed with a guy who was obviously having a bad day. SNARKY to the max. So, I called their number that I found in the deep, dark depths of their website. I got a much better response when they heard my voice and my concerns.

    Good luck! I hope you get a response. Thanks for sticking up for our little people.

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