Our Adoption Blog

This latest Disney / Pixar movie has created quite a stir in the adoption community.. lots of people who like/love the movie and others that are offended by the messages portrayed in the movie.  Personally, I liked the movie.

Bear in mind, I have not completed our adoption and I am not a parent, so I would not purport to tell you how you should feel about the movie, or how you should handle your adopted child seeing the movie.

A few things about the movie.

1.  Orphanages are no longer a part of American culture.. At least I have never seen one, so this is a bit of a misnomer through-out the movie.. However, movies have historically painted orphans in orphanages, so I am not sure that is too big a deal.

2. Many of the adoptive parents that have an issue with this movie, have an issue because they have the mistaken notion that Louis (the main character) builds a time-machine to go back and see his mom.  HOWEVER, this is not true. It was never Louis intention to build a time-machine.  He invents a device that read the hippo campus (memory center of the brain) so that he can remember what his mom looks like since he knows that he saw her originally as a baby.  The time-machine comes from the future from two other characters and that is when he gets the idea that he can just go back and see him mom.
3. Most of the movie is NOT about him finding his mother.  Most of the movie is about the future kid trying to restore the time-line properly, while the bad guy continues to try to steal Louis’ memory recall invention. The underlying promise to take Louis back to see his mom is carried through the movie. I will get back to this in a bit.

4. Overall I think  this is not the most impressive Disney movie, and the story was stretched and at times there was WAY too much going on.  It is a good movie though and I was happy with the way that adoption is presented and I think that the final message was good.

What I got from this movie was that Louis wanted a family, and ultimately wanted to be with his biological mother.  This is a typical response for adopted children - especially US adopted children.  However, what Louis learns through the movie is that your family is who you make your family.  The collection of people who form the Robinson’s are ultimately together because they want to be, and not just because they are relatives.  In fact, at the end of the movie (SPOILER ALERT) Louis has the opportunity to speak with and possibly stop her from abandoning him.  He doesn’t though.  He backs away and let’s her abandon him, maybe realizing that she is no longer the most important aspect of his life, knowing that this other family has accepted him, and love him.

In the eyes of an adopted child, old enough to understand the themes presented, I can definitely see how this would be a tough movie to watch, and maybe they would not find the same message.  So there is definite need for caution and I think that you should watch this with your child.

I promise this will not become a movie review blog.. I just really wanted to ramble about this movie for a few minutes…