Take Your Kids To The Movies

David Denby's misguied essay in The New Yorker has inspired a misguided essay in the NYTImes, where AO Scott makes the unremarkable discovery that you can take smart young kids to appropriate adult films. I'd much rather take a kid to an adult film that's a little mature for them or even over their head than feed them a pablum diet of dumb kid movies. But as Scott points out, "kid movies" like "Harry Potter" and the "Pirates" movies and the Pixar flicks are often of exceptional quality. But yes, he should take his kids to adult films and expose them to classic old movies. Why should it be a surprise to him that they can enjoy great old films? Isn't that exactly what he (and I and lots of other movie buffs) did as a kid?