Stoker here folks. So I was reading Kilian’s article on “Krod Mandoon” and “Harper’s Island” when his comment about the last film he saw struck home. Kilian made mention of the fact that the last movie he saw was “Monsters vs. Aliens” and that he would likely see “Up” next. This is all fine and dandy, I have absolutely no problem with taking the family out to see a kid friendly cartoon but I am a bit concerned that things have gotten a bit too friendly in the past years.

When I was a wee child, I remember going to cartoon movies and seeing things that kept me up at night sweating in terror. How many of us cowered in fear at the thought of characters like Maleficent, Scar or Jafar? These were characters of true terror; murderers, thieves and schemers. It now seems, though, that all of the villains in cartoons have to be incredibly over the top, they no longer posses that evil which so permeated the cartoons of the past. A look at the winner for the Academy Award in animation this year proves my point. The villain in “Wall.E” was nothing more than a castrated version of HAL. I think that the time has come to bring the fear back to children.

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