Seeing vs. Hearing

I've heard them all.

Actually, that's not a typo. I literally think I have listened to every kid's movie of note, while The Three Who Will Not Be Tamed watch them on the DVD in the back on our drives to Iowa, or Chicago, or Bay Beach, or where ever, I have heard them all.

So, with a little time to sit on my hands, I've actually watched a couple of them with the youngest of The Three the past week or so.

Amazing quality.

Granted, this is against the backdrop of a trip to Disney, where expectations, selection and training of people create one of those "this is how it ought to be everywhere" experiences, but these animated features are incredibly well done. Even just the cheesy princess movies (it is, after all the two-year old I'm getting the bonding time with) make the ol' Rocky and Bullwinkle reels look pretty shoddy.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with The Roadrunner dropping a ton of TNT on Wyle E. Coyote. That was all we had to see, and not once have I, or any of my classmates been tempted to drop explosives on someone -- at least not that we're living up to. Tom and Jerry was funny, too, and Bullwinkle / Dudley Dooright still might be the best cartoon ever -- hard to believe there were only like a dozen episodes ever made. "Must catch Moose and Squirrel," in a quality Boris Badanoff accent is good for a laugh in most any context...

Today, and over the past fifteen years or so, The Simpson's is probably the best example of really incredible writing and modern animation quality -- but I wonder at what age our kids will get the context -- if at all -- as to how good they have it.

For me, it was probably somewhere in my mid-30's. I wonder how we can expedite that for these incredible young people who see more technology every day than we even had available, and who see more TV in the backseat on a weekend drive than we did in a week, back in the day?