Friday, March 8, 2013
Adoption Movie Guide: Escape From Planet Earth
Gary and Scorch Supernova are brothers. Scorch is muscular, athletic,
and wildly popular. His job as a space ranger earns him fans and endorsement
deals. Gary is older, smaller, very smart, and somewhat nerdy. Gary works as
Scorch’s mission control specialist. Gary’s son, Kip, looks up to Scorch.
Unbeknownst to Gary or Scorch, the leader of the space ranger agency has been
conspiring with a military leader from The Dark Planet. Scorch is sent on a
mission to the Dark Planet, and Gary goes after him to keep him safe. Along the way, Gary struggles with resentment
over years of feeling treated as “less than” Scorch, but also earns Kip's admiration.
How is This Relevant
to Adoption / Foster Care?
Kids
could resonate with Kip, Gary, or with the villain.
Children
who have been separated from siblings via foster care may resonate powerfully
with Gary. His brother is far away and – for all Gary knows – dead or in
danger. In anger, Gary says that he
hopes Scorch “gets stranded,” but then sets off to rescue him. Along the way,
Gary struggles with many feelings – anger at his brother over insults of the
past, fear at the thought of losing him, guilt over hurtful words said in
anger, and a desire to prove himself to be “good enough” to earn admiration
from other family members – all of these feelings could be particularly familiar
to kids from separated sibling sets.
Kids
in foster care might resonate with a scene where Kip sets off on his own in an
attempt to rescue Scorch. Although Kip’s parents are making phone calls to try
to organize a rescue of Scorch, Kip feels that they are not being proactive
enough. Kids in foster care may feel like their parents, their social workers
and their foster parents are not doing enough to make sure that their case moves
forward.
The villain turned evil because he lost his parents. More on that later.
The villain turned evil because he lost his parents. More on that later.
Strong Points
Gary
shows courage in setting off to rescue Scorch. Kip was also prepared to show
courage, but Gary went in his place. Many kids in foster care are parentified –
they have taken the caring/nurturing role over other children and even,
sometimes, over adults. Kip was about to do that for Scorch, but Gary stepped
up. That could be a positive model for some children who need to see examples
of adults taking responsibility for adult-level roles.
Challenges
The
film’s villain Shanker, (played by William Shatner) has set out on a mission to
destroy all “alien” forms of life because his father was accidentally killed by
an alien spaceship. This might trouble some children who have lost their
parents. The villain’s storyline is briefly explained, and it’s a bit
problematic: aliens express that they stayed with him and cared for him for
awhile because they felt bad for causing his loss, but then they realized that
he wasn’t a good person. There’s truth
here: bad things might happen to you, but you still need to avoid letting them
fuel your anger and dictate your actions (See: Meet the Robinsons) – but also
make sure that your kids know you’ll never give up on them, even when they do
some bad things.
Weak Points
Some
scenes could be scary to young viewers: Kip’s mother is briefly in peril. Some
characters are frozen in a purple liquid.
Parents
and kids over 12 might not find the movie too entertaining.
Recommendations
Escape
From Planet Earth is geared at younger kids. For being such a silly movie,
though, there are quite a few moments which lend themselves to conversation. It
seems more applicable to foster care than to adoption, but it could work for
either family circumstance. Recommended for kids (especially those in foster
care) ages 5-9, especially those who’ve experienced separation from their
siblings or those who have exhibited parentified behaviors.
Questions for Discussion after the movie
Why
do you think Gary said, “I hope Scorch gets stranded.”? Do you think he really
meant it? Have you ever said something you didn’t mean, and then felt bad about
it?
How
do you think Gary felt about being so far away from Scorch? Why was he worried
about Scorch? What would you do if you were Gary?
Kip
was going to go rescue Scorch, but then his dad went instead. Who should have
gone? Why? When have you seen kids acting like responsible grown-ups? Have you
ever seen grown-ups acting like kids?
Why
is Shanker (the villain) so angry and mean?
Which
character do you think is most like you?
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You might also like these Adoption Movie Guides of kid-friendly movies:
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The story is different, if a little predictable. But it's a kids' movie. Really well-done too. If your kids enjoyed Monsters Inc., Ice Age, or Madagascar, this movie will do the trick. It deserves a sequel.
ReplyDeleteMica
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