I, Brian

So I was warned the other day - not to hire out the latest "Black Beauty" adaption.

Apparently, the original novel was effectively a Victorian call to arms against the abusive mistreatment of horses - and that's what the story is about.

A friend's daughter had apparently spent the last hour of the film in complete tears, and was still crying when put to bed.

I think I'll avoid putting Black Beauty on for our kids...

Crikey, though - do we need a new BBFC warning for films that might be upseting for little girls?

Princess Ivy

In trying for realism and to keep the original flavour of the books, to many films are forgetting that they are aimed at children. I remember crying buckets over black beauty, daddy long legs and what katy did. the books could be quite harrowing, and movie producers tend to forget that. Yep I think there should deff be a warning 'will make sensitive little girls cry and have nightmares'
although that would probably mean i'd be condemned to watching re-runs of legaly blonde and the lizzy macguire movie for the rest of my life

Alysheba

I can understand that there should be some sort of warning to let people know what is in a film before viewing. As for this version (I take it you are refering to the 1994 version? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109279/) I think it's the most accurate of the ones that have been filmed. The story itself is pretty bleak and there is a lot more in it that the movie did not show. So we come down to this: Should it be accurate or should it be fabricated to not be as violent for children? Disney is notorious for putting in things that will rip you heart out and feed it to you. Like Old Yeller, The Yearling, Bambi, and even The Lion King.

Winters_Sorrow

My sister watched "The Little Princess" when she was about 9.

Cried from about halfway through right to the very end......then blew her nose and watched it again (and again)

People seem to think that "in this world" - everyone grows up really fast, so we don't need to watch our language or drink/fight/talk about sex in front of children. And that it's ok to let them see films & play computer games with an 18 cert when they're barely out of kindergarden.

Morons.

Princess Ivy

the violence is not untempered, its the slushy oversentimentality that needs to be looked at. i've found, with my kids, they don't mind knowing about death (they are quite stoic about the circle of life when my cats kill birds rats etc), but it's when things are drawn out to insensibility that they get upset.

dwndrgn

I don't see that there needs to be a warning at all. It is a children's book that has a disturbing theme. If you don't want your children upset, keep them to the Teletubbies (shudder!). When I read that story as a little girl, yes it made me cry but it also gave me an idea of what I'd like to not see happen to animals. I also feel that this is one of the underlying feelings behind an overall compassion.

Sure kids are inundated with violence and stupidity - but for the most part they accept that this isn't real, and they can recognise how unrealistic those types of storylines are as well ("sure it's dumb, but it is lots of fun!"). With things like Black Beauty, you can imagine all too well how that could be real, unlike the violent war and killing games on the xbox or playstation. It is an important distinction that not many people make. I think more parents ought to make it. Some things children should be sheltered from and others they shouldn't.

I'd allow my neices to see this without any hesitation whatsoever. Although, some people might think I'm a heretic and an unnatural aunt anyway since I gave my neice the first four HP books for Christmas last year...

Alysheba

I must admit, my nephew sees more violence on his Game Cube than in the movies. I took him to see The Longest Yard and a girl at work said that I shouldn't have because it was PG-13. Honestly, it was a lot less violent than some NFL games I've seen recently.