Do you think my opinion about the Disney movie "Jungle Cruise" is accurate (SPOILERT ALERT)?

Disney does not shy away from condemning their villains to a cruel fate.

The Queen from Snowwhite was crushed by a boulder and her corpse eaten by vultures.
Maleficent gets stabbed in the heart and burned alive.
Ursula gets impaled by a large piece of wood, and ultimately dismembered.
Scar gets eaten alive by Hyenas.

Disney is not only Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Disney afraid of death? Tell that to Bambi’s mom who was murdered by a hunter.

Haven’t seen the movie, and didn’t even know it exists until you mentioned it. It was made in 2021 so maybe the plot isn’t as heavy as the older movies because of the new sensitivity. But to conclude that Disney chooses not to let a character die because it’s a children’s company is baseless at best. Like @zenvelo and @ragingloli pointed out, there are countless example of Disney making movies with gruesome death. You can even search for them yourself. Here is a random Youtube video ranking the brutality of death from Disney movie (notice that there is a character getting literally dragged to hell, so your theory about hell doesn’t add up either).

So… no, I don’t really think your opinion is accurate. If anything, I think it has more to do with the logic of the plot than the filmmakers censoring themselves for fear of traumatizing children.

Is death really not a part of life? Showing how someone dies ignominiously when they do evil might actually be a deterrent to children doing evil.

@zenvelo Yes, my mother said years ago that most Disney movies had a main character who died. She was right.

@seawulf575: The best way to teach life isn’t with some horror tales, but with pragmatism and realism.

@luigirovatti out of curiosity, what is your idea of “pragmatism and realism”? Isn’t it a fact that people die?

Along the line of @zenvelo‘s comment, did you ever watch the 1957 Disney classic “Old Yeller”? Disney established itself as a children’s company back during the 1940’s. Since that time, they have tortured many a villain and murdered many less than villainous. The new and improved Disney is nothing more than a money grubbing corporation that cares nothing about children except in trying to make the kid’s parents feel comfortable that their child is safe. They have used and abused Mickey and Minnie and all their friends

EDIT: As to “Jungle Cruise”, you got a lot more out of it than I did. That was one of the worst movies that Johnson ever made. I thought it would never end and I had lost any interest well before “The End” rolled across my screen

You’re reading way too much into it, kids won’t understand on that level.

I saw the movie as a mindless giggle.

My wife noticed that mothers usually die in Disney movies – Snow White, Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Bambi, Frozen, even Nemo.

^^ Yes, that’s what my mother noticed too. Perhaps because in mythology the mother has to die, or the father in The Lion King, for the hero to attain full “manhood”, “womanhood”, or “deerhood!”

Or – a single stereotypical dad would allow the new wife to abuse his daughter, thus setting up the conflict in the story. But, a single stereotypical mom would probably kill any new husband who had any dark thoughts against her daughter, thus killing any story potential.

@luigirovatti how do you explain pragmatism and realism to children?

@seawulf575 It was really easy with my kid. I just never lied.

@Caravanfan I get leading by example, but how do you explain a movie like the one in this question to an 8 year old in terms of pragmatism and realism? To start with, most movies fall flat on realism. And Disney movies in particular. So do you just tell your kid that it is stupid because there isn’t realism?

@seawulf575: It may be the right thing, maybe not, but always better than saying your child might be killed for being the wolf. Really, your child must experience his/her choices, and learn to live with the consequences. That’s growing up, that‘s being an adult.

@luigirovatti And how is that related to the question at hand? This question is about a detail in a movie. And now you are talking about letting children learn from real life experience. It’s common knowledge. And it has nothing to do with the question.

Seriously I’m having a hard time trying to understand what your point is here.

@Mimishu1995: I was not answering about the movie, because, what happened in that movie was exactly what I would teach my children. I was answering about the not-realistic trend Disney has in addressing the fate of the villains.

@luigirovatti ah I see…

:D :D :D :D :D

Look, if you are going to use movies as a tool to teach children, prepare to be outraged like you are now. Just because a company is “for kids” doesn’t mean its products are educational. That is why we have companies specialized in educational products, and “edutainment” movies and games alongside with children movies and games that are intended more to entertain than to educate. Disney is a company for kids, but it isn’t an educational company. Go look at a random Mickey cartoon and tell me what lesson you can get from it. I have never considered Disney an educational company, and have never taken their movies seriously or try to find any moral lessons from them. Their movies entertain me and that’s all I care.

Besides, demanding that every movie has to be “realistic” and “morally acceptable” can be a death trap. This kind of thinking kills creativity, because it forces artists to conform to a guideline of what is acceptable. And the result is a bland and uninspired work of art that no one wants to see. My country is full of moralists like that, and this is why our cartoons and movies are hated everywhere by our own people.

It’s your job as a responsible parent to teach your kid what is right and wrong in the world, and how they should approach media. No company is responsible for your child’s bad behavior. A lot of people on this site can attest that they watched the non-realistic Disney deaths in their childhood, and they all grew up to be well-adjusted adults. If Disney had done something wrong, they would have been boycotted to the death by angry parents long ago.

Why not take your own advice and let your kid experience the real world instead of drawing conclusions about the real world from a random cartoon that isn’t meant to represent the real world in the first place?

I think it is important to point out that Simba and Nala were either siblings or half siblings, and were engaging in hot, steamy incest.

@ragingloli: Good point. I’m not against incest, however. Nobody should be.

@seawulf575 When my daughter was 8 years old she would have been smart enough to realize that it was just a stupid Disney story based upon a theme park ride. She would not have taken it seriously.

@luigirovatti ok. The first thing you need to do is stop watching animes. You are too deep in it.

@Caravanfan yeah, I would expect that. But the OP’s point here is that those Disney deaths could be taken seriously by children and lead them to bad attitude, which your daughter clearly proves wrong.

@Mimishu1995 I have trust that kids know it’s just a story. And most good parents know what movies are appropriate for kids.

My kids were OK with Disney deaths, but they were basically cartoon deaths. All Disney mom deaths were off-screen. Only Simba’s death was on-screen.

@Caravanfan You can still get lessons out of stories. Fiction as well as non-fiction. You can learn a lot of things even when the story itself is fantasy.

@seawulf575 On this we agree completely.

@seawulf575 @Caravanfan I agree with you too, and I think the OP agrees as well. But the OP here is suggesting that movies Disney movies in particular should abide to their view of morality so that children could only learn good things from them and not traumatized by bad things. I have been addressing that point up there.

Where is it written that children should only learn good things from Disney?

@Caravanfan Of course no one has ever written that. But that’s what @luigirovatti is getting at. That’s totally not my idea. I have been trying to disprove that idea in my posts.

@Mimishu1995 Ah, then I agree with you. Sorry, I lost track of who was debating whom.

But death itself is not bad, it’s unpleasant. Murder is bad. Disney seems to make a point of showing that characters don’t get away with bad behavior e.g. Scar gets chewed up, Ursula gets impaled, Gaston falls to his death.

@RocketGuy Yeah, I totally agree with you. I think it’s quite a good lesson for kids although kind of over-the-top. I don’t really understand what @luigirovatti‘s problem with this.

@Mimishu1995: We cannot assume all kids can see the laws of moral conduct beyond what they necessarily see, hear, or something like that. Maybe they understand things that go beyond what is told by entertainment media, maybe not. In any case, we cannot question anything.

@luigirovatti then where are the parents? Or do you think all parents leave their kids 24/24 in front of the TV while they go out partying?

@Mimishu1995: We cannot even assume parents will teach their kids anything related to moral laws. We simply don’t know. Every family is different. Every parent is different. And they teach all kinds of things to their kids.

@luigirovatti ok. So you want the media to raise your kid then. Got it.

When I have kids I’m going to just put my kids in front of the TV all day while I go out enjoying my life, because even if I attempt to teach them they will still be wild idiots with no morality.

Thanks for the cool advice. I will also bang my dad tonight because anime says it’s ok.

@Mimishu1995: Now you’re bashing it. I’m not talking about you but about kids who aren’t raised normally. Please, try to respect my opinion and consider what I said in a general context instead of a personal attack against you.

@luigirovatti As I already said above, it’s the parents’ job to teach kids about anything. If they teach them the wrong things, that’s on them. Full stop. It’s hilariously idiotic to expect the media to make a good kid when the kid’s loving environment is already messed up in the first place. And what exactly do you mean “normally”? Who defines “normal”? If the kid isn’t abused and has no lifelong issue, then what should be “normal”? So something isn’t normal because you say so?

And you know what? This is the point I already made several posts ago. Not to mention no one here is in agreement with your point about how kids should be taught.

I have tried my hardest to be respectful to you and break down your logic. And here we are, running around back to square one. Clearly you don’t take time to understand what I’m saying. I don’t think I can continue to amuse your bizarre logic any longer. I am respectful to people who has different opinion, not people who refuses to even read.

@Mimishu1995: The media alone obviously can’t be responsible for the kids’ upbringing. It influences them. The movies as a whole in any case bring more emotional baggage to children, so what they see on those movies add up to their external environment.

I mean, children can be scared by an horror film, and have nightmares for days afterwards, for example.

@luigirovatti look, this conversation is really going in circle now. As I have said above, it’s the parents’ job to monitor their kids’ behavior and guide them to the right path. They can choose what movies their kids can see. And if they don’t find a movie suitable, they can toss it aside. And I think I already said enough about kid movies vs educational movies and how demanding everything to be squeeky-clean for kids can destroy creativity.

I find it interesting that you are so worked up about how movies can traumatize kids while there are more things out there that can harm a child’s mind even more like abusive family, unsafe learning environment, bad friends… And there are scientific proofs that those things can cause long-lasting trauma, while the only argument for scary movies is… it gives children nightmares. Your argument is just “video games cause violence” but with movies.

It’s clear to me that everything you say will eventually lead back to my post above. I’m tired of having to say the same thing over and over to you. I don’t think I can continue this argument anymore because I’m so tired of running around in circle. I’m out.