Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Today's Dinosaur News | Bridesmaids: CONDEMN OR ALLOW?… »

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Events / Parenting Issues / Film The Children's Film Festival Is Still Going On

Posted by Lindy West on Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 2:26 PM

The Ugly Duckling: Depressingness multiplied by Russia!

The Ugly Duckling: Depressingness multiplied by Russia!

I made generous fun of it in the film section last week, but the Children's Film Festival really is a fun annual happening. If you have kids, and your kids are capable of paying attention to things that are slightly boring sometimes, and you're interested in helping your kids to grow interesting brains, there are some worthwhile things to check out.

For instance, Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle plays through tomorrow night, and on Saturday there are two screenings of a 1916 silent version of A Little Princess with a live harp score. Adorable! (And possibly boring, but ADORABLE NONETHELESS! Force your children to eat the culture!)

Also, you still have several more chances to see The Ugly Duckling, which I obsessed over like so:

Ahhh, The Ugly Duckling. The age-old fable that's taught generations of kids, "Hey, loser, don't worry if you're totally ugly—you might also be adopted!" This feature-length stop-motion animation jamboree takes the world's most depressing fairy tale and then multiplies it by Russia, which means you might as well go home right now and decapitate your cat with a Razor scooter because that will be better for your mood. Except just kidding, of course—The Ugly Duckling has a totally happy ending! (Spoiler alert: The ugly freak duck grows up into a totally hot swan, and life is finally worth living! Those of you ugly people who have already grown up and remained ugly, uh, um, I guess you're just fucked. And you will never find your real family. Sorry.)

(Read the rest here.)

The full Children's Film Festival line-up is available here.