SPOILERS: Mada-Ghastly: Keep Small Children Away!

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2006)

The days of animated films being all sweetness and light have been over for some time, but with fluffy little animals I didn't expect this one to incorporate so much death and violence. Dead people hanging from trees, using a skeleton hand as a sceptre. The other movies lately (about corpse brides and Christmas being associated with dead things, etc.) which purport to be animations for children but which I consider straight out of hell are one thing. But this film is misleading in a lot of ways, seeming to be a cute film for the kiddies but having a lot of rough stuff in it (animals eating other animals, and skeletons, songs about "ladies shaking it sweet" or whatever. I would keep any child younger than at least 12 away from this thing.
Now, having said that, I am a New Yorker and the allusions to New York are great. There are also some things that only New Yorkers would get ("That's the JERSEY side of the island!") and going from calling his friends to calling the staff of an early morning talk show. All great stuff. It IS a funny movie. The jokes are funny enough and the action fast enough to hold an adult's attention. But I just would not bring very young children.