'Up' is Not a Good Children's Movie

I am grateful you have accepted this light-hearted debate, Conor. It should be fun. Conor said: "I think it is a good children's movie because it provides a playful story to members of our new generation and simultaneously addresses such topics as equality, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, and substance abuse in a playful yet educative light." Um... just wondering, are we talking about the same movie? No offence if we are. I was referring to this movie: http://disney.go.com... I too believe that Up provides a playful overall story, but I really don't think it addresses topics like "equality, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, and substance abuse". Could you provide more specific examples? Thanks. Also, I believe that topics such as child abuse and teenage pregnancy aren't really suitable for audiences ages 2-14. Here is my argument as to why Up is not a good children's movie. First of all, we must ask what the 'set standards' for a children's movie are. Typically, children's movies are characterized by their light-hearted nature, lively humor, and appropriate content (as in no swearing, drugs, or obscene material). I do not deny that the content of Up is suitable, but I will argue that the humor is not lively, and also that the nature is not light-hearted. Here are my supporting arguments. 1) Up is a very sad, depressing movie. It all starts off with a slide show of Carl his and married life with Ellie. Here is a brief synopsis of what is depicted. The couple tries to have a child, but Carl's wife, Ellie, has a miscarriage, and apparently can have no more children. Sorrowful, depressing music is played through the sequence. The couple shares a dream of going to Paradise Falls, but every time they have nearly enough money to go there, they have to spend the money on something else, because unfortunate events such as injuries and house repairs keep happening. In their old age, the couple eventually conjures up enough money to go to Paradise Falls, (oh, here's the good part) but then Ellie dies. Yup, after all those years of saving and turmoil, she just dies, leaving a heartbroken Carl all alone. Cue regretful, melancholy music. After Carl's wife dies, a truck knocks of his mailbox, and a guy tries to fix it. Carl doesn't like him touching his mailbox, so he whacks the guy over the head with his cane, drawing blood. Then Carl is summoned to court and evicted from his house as a public menace. Honestly, I felt like crying after watching scenes such as these. These events are all very real and disturbing. Do we really need such sickeningly sad things in a kid's movie? 2) The humor in this movie is a joke (pun intended, of course). A kid's movie should make you want to laugh, not cry. Watching this movie gave me little pleasure. I think I only laughed out loud once in the whole movie. However, it was only a little 'heh-heh', and the joke was repeated several times, decreasing much of the humor for me. All the other attempted humor was old, or was just plain not funny (at least to me). 3) Up is a stressful movie. There are many desperate moments where it feels as though the characters are going to fall from treacherous heights. One might say that climatic moments like these occur in almost every movie, but for Up it is much more intense. For an animated movie, these sequences look remarkably real and harrowing, not to mention they happen frequently. I've seen some intense movies before, but Up still left me with a feeling of anxiety. I'm serious. Children just don't need that degree of stress. Through these arguments, I have shown that Up does not qualify a 'good' children's movie, as in it does not meet satisfactory standards for audiences ages 2-14. It seems as though it would be much more qualified for a slightly older audience, as it contains many depressing and intense moments that would be disturbing to young children. Again, I thank you, Conor, for this excellent opportunity to debate. I eagerly await your response.