With Halloween coming up, and the year of 2017 coming to a close, a lot of prominent movies have passed us by, opening into this year’s “movie graveyard.” The winter and summer months generally have an overflow of movies targeted at kids 12 and under, as those are months where the family is at home more often than not. And with those family oriented movies, they cover some deeper topics, which if done right, can make an entertaining movie for the whole family. However, if done wrong, it makes the movie dark, and to be frank, not appropriate for children.

More than a few family movies try and appeal to the darker topics. A few examples that come to mind would be 1978’s “Watership Down”, which features horrific scenes and graphic violence, and 2009’s Coraline, which features highly frightening scenes, usually mixed in with high tension. Family movies such as these may have some negative effects, especially if they reach the “Watership Down” side of things.

Another more recent example would be 2012’s “ParaNorman”, an animated Halloween adventure, featuring a boy who can talk to the spirits of the dead. For the most part, it’s typical fare, with childish jokes, as well as the more secretive ones aimed at the adults. However, there is an inordinate amount of violence in the movie, featuring semi-graphic scenes played off for laughs. And, as previously stated, if done tastefully, then the movie could have been fun for all ages, excluding children that are very young (who probably shouldn’t being watching PG films anyway). However, “ParaNorman” has plenty of dark themes and references, many of which are a big focal point of the movie. On top of that, the trailer is aimed towards children who would be easily frightened by this film.

While there is no problem with dark themes in films, it’s a little distasteful for a PG feature. Most of the time, these themes have a very large screen presence or take up a  good portion of the screen time, meaning that the dark topics of the film are not subtle or meant to be gleaned from the dialogue. Movies that try to move into “darker” topics, such as graphic violence, or sexuality are usually better reserved for adults. Most children would not understand these topics, and it may result in awkward confrontations that may or may not result in distorted views on those subject. There is also the factor of desensitizing our children, which reportedly comes from viewing an act enough times. The blatancy of these darker tones, and the large amounts of violence can very easily desensitize children.

While I believe that children can be exposed to dark themes, there should be some moderation in how they cover these topics. I imagine, that attempting to show “Watership Down” to kids today would most likely turn out very bad, as our principles on what’s acceptable changes frequently. And yet, sometimes, a dark theme or two is helpful to a movie’s plot. While dark themes might make for a good movie, it does not make for a good family movie.