I love me some Pixar and Disney animated movies as well as the best from Universal and Illumination (the Despicable me series) but I was not going into this movie called “Small Foot” with much hope. It seemed like a cute idea but it didn’t seem like it could be enough for a feature length film.

Well, I’m happy to report that I was wrong. Me and the kids loved this movie so much. The humor was good and the story was fantastic. It was almost like a Dr. Seus type story with some deep messages about what is the truth and how important it is to think for yourself and not just take everyone’s word for things. This is a perfect time for such questions to ask because we’ve been learning that most of the history lessons we were taught wasn’t as honest or as factual as it should have been. I love the message it was telling about learning the truth despite what everyone is telling you (like professors or the media) and not letting them scare you into silence with their fear mongering. Heavy stuff for what looks like a kid’s film. 

I also liked the message about not letting our fear keep us from getting to know other people or things. I guess that was the expected virtue signaling message but it’s a good one. I thought it was so clever how the characters realized that both sides thought the other side was nothing but monsters! It’s the same thing we are seeing today in political America as the democrats and republicans see each other as monsters. As an independent centrist this bothers me to no end. We need to reunite because we are the United States of America. 

Back to the movie. I liked all of the characters and the story arcs the main characters went through. The self-centered narcissist who just wanted to be famous and get more clicks online and even the main Yeti. 

I highly recommend this movie for the whole family. They did a great job making it enjoyable for all ages just like Pixar does so well. 

Here’s the trailer 

Here’s a beautiful song called “Wonderful Life” sung by Zendaya. It was really moving to me. 

“Wonderful Life”
(from “Smallfoot” soundtrack)

Take a look around
And see the world we think we know
Then look closer
There’s more to life than meets the eye
A beauty to behold
It’s all much bigger than we know
It’s only just beginning to unfold
So let it all unfold

Far beyond all reason in your mind
There’s a world mysterious
There for you to find
All these questions
That we always have
All we are is curious
There’s nothing wrong with that
So go ’round every corner
Search every part of the sky
‘Cause a life that’s full of wonder
Is a wonderful life

Dig beneath the surface
Find the lessons there to learn
And then dig deeper
Feed your intuition
Don’t leave ant stone unturned
Be the seeker of the truth
Listen when you hear it calling you
You know it’s calling you

Far beyond all reason in your mind
There’s a world mysterious
There for you to find
All these questions that we always have
All we are is curious
There’s nothing wrong with that
So go ’round every corner
Search every part of the sky
‘Cause a life that’s full of wonder
Is a wonderful life
Is a wonderful life
Is a wonderful life
Is a wonderful life

And the answers are far away
Look closer
Look closer
Look closer
Look closer

It’s something special to see a father and son together like this knowing what lies ahead of them.  Gary has talked about the difficulties of watching his beloved father slowly lose his memory and even his own son’s name at times. He knows it’s only going to get worse with time so he decided to write this song and include his dad in the music video. All this has been possible because the singer has also admitted that he had recently become clean and sober and he isn’t afraid of being more open and honest anymore. The new music from Snow Patrol’s new album “WILDNESS” reflects Gary’s renewed sense of self and appreciation of life.

Gary shared how he felt about his old man in another very public way too when he sent this tweet with a photo of him and his father.

We should make this beautiful song a reminder to reach out to our loved ones and let them know how much we care about them. Let’s let them know how much we appreciate all of the memories while we still can.

Lyrics SOON

Chorus]
Soon you’ll not remember anything
But then someday neither will I
Tomorrow though is nothing to fear
Because father it’s always today

[Verse 1]
Life won’t flash before your eyes
Instead we’ll fall away then melt like snow
The secret storms of your wild youth
Now just gentle breezes, warm and faint

[Chorus]
Soon you’ll not remember anything
But then some day neither will I
Tomorrow though is nothing to fear
Because father it’s always today

[Bridge]
I can’t ride on your coat tails again
Like I always did as a little boy
We are standing on the home shores now
My whole hand hanging onto your thumb
There’s a place in the palace of you
We can always be standing like that
We could hide in there, just as we were then
Just my father and I am just your son
Your son
Your son
Your son

Here’s Gary and bandmate talking about how they almost broke up and how cleaning up his act saved not only the band but more importantly his life!

This song by Michael W. Smith “How to Say Goodbye” does a wonderful job showing the relationship between a dad and his daughter from little girl to her wedding day.

I love the ending so much. I watched it with my daughter who’s 12.

I wish every parent would watch this with their kids and schools would show this to their students. I think it would really reach many young people and actually change the behavior of those that previously picked on others because they would see the long-term impact of their actions. I’ve covered the subject matter of bullying many times on Dadomatic.com my blog for dads and families. Obviously, this film got to me in a big way because of my interest in fighting bullying. I believe an anime such as this film could do wonders to reach young people who don’t usually like watching preachy documentaries.

Here’s a good explanation of the film… spoiler warning of course.

Here’s the trailer

An extra scene

I love this one. It’s a mashup of people watching the movie as they react to different scenes

It really touched me deeply. I like to think all three of my children fully understand how much I love and adore them so it’s wonderful to see how much we impact our kids by what we say and do on a daily basis. We all know that children learn as much from watching us as they do from listening to us (some think they learn more from our actions than our words)

To be honest about the song, I am not quite as handy as the dad in the song but I am proud to admit that I show and say how much I love my family every single day. I always want them to know how much they mean to me. Sometimes it annoys them but I know deep down they appreciate it and understand why I do it.

My son and I actually went to see Owl City in 2016 in Atlanta and it was a total blast. We both love Adam Young and his wonderful music.

Here’s the acoustic version

Here’s the recorded version

We here at Dadomatic have always tried to champion the fight against bullying because as dads we understand the horrific torture this causes our children. All of us remember the pain from our youth from being teased or bullied whether we were the victims or someone else we knew and liked. It continues because everyone remains silent about it and no one does anything about it. This includes fellow students and teachers and school administrators and other parents. We are all complicit whenever we decide not to help someone who’s being attacked whether it’s verbally or physically. It is our business even when it’s not our kids.

We’ve done many pieces on combatting bullying…. here’s a link to them: dadomatic.com/tag/bullying/
One of our proudest moments was working with Chris Cuomo and 20/20 when they did a special on bullying. Here’s the article which contains many helpful resources that parents and teachers can use to help fight bullying.

One of the most powerful resources we’ve ever found was the work done for The Bully Project. They produced a deeply emotion film showcasing the effects of bullying not only on the victims but also their families, others kids and communities. This important film is being shown at schools in order to show everyone why this must be stopped. It is having a powerful and profound effect on kids and adults, especially the bullies and their parents. Many of them are seeking the help they need to address the psychological and emotional problems that lead bullies to lash out at innocent kids for no reason at all. Please try to get this film to play at your school and even at home…. even if you don’t think bullying is a part of your life. Just because your child never mentions it does not mean that he or she doesn’t see or feel it. Trust me, they are exposed to it in one way or another.

I want to conclude this latest nightmare with the words from the devastated dad of Daniel Jr. which is very difficult to hear because it’s so heartbreaking. Can you imagine what it feels like to lose such a beautiful boy who sounds like the kind of kid I would be proud to call my own. As a matter of fact the reason why this story hits me harder than all the others is because Daniel reminds me of my 13 year old son who is better than me and such a sweetheart and he’s a gentle giant and overweight so he’s an easy target for mean kids. As with all three of my kids, my wife and I always communicate with them every day and look for warning signs of bullying and we’ve been able to step in and intervene whenever we felt it was necessary and it has helped all three of them so far. Please watch this message from Danny’s dad and please help fight bullying… whether your child is the victim or the bully. We all must do what we can to help.

Daniel’s dad’s video message

It made me think of the advice my wife and I have always tried to give our three children. Yes, as babies we caught ourselves fawning all over our beautiful cherubs like all other parents do. We would smother them with kisses and always tell them how beautiful they were…but then we realized that we don’t want them to grow up with just that message about being physically good looking. I mean, what kind of message does that send? We wanted to make sure that they fully understand that there was much important things about them. So we came up with our CSS mantra. No, it has nothing to do with web development. CSS stands for “Cute, Sweet and Smart”.

Whenever we caught ourselves showering our children with love and praise we made sure that we never stopped with how cute they were. We always added Sweet….and Smart…. and we always explained that we loved them not just because they were cute as a button but also because they were so sweet and kind and so smart too. We made sure they knew how critical it was to always be nice to others and I have to admit that these three kids are truly the nicest kids you will meet… and this isn’t coming from a biased parent either. This is the feedback that we have always gotten from other parents and teachers and other kids. It truly makes us so proud.

As for the smart part, it seems to have inspired them to always work harder when it comes to school and to instill a confidence in their thinking abilities and self-awareness. We hoped that showing them that our love for them was not based on something as transient and as superficial as one’s appearances. No, we wanted to make it clear to them that love is much deeper than that. We hope other parents do the same thing with their kids. The world will be a much better place if we all did this.

Anyway, please enjoy this song and the wonderful video.

This was extra special to me because it reminded me of something personal that happened to me often whenever I traveled back to my homeland of Italy as a young man. I would always give a hand with clearing off the table after a delicious meal and  I will never forget the look on the faces of my uncles as they watched me actually do what they considered women’s work. Even my aunts and cousins would look in shock at me in disbelief but I assured them that I just wanted to help as a reward for the wonderful meal they served me. My uncles would always lecture me after my outrageous behavior that I was harming rituals and traditions that were centuries old. They would ask “what’s next? Dishes? The Laundry?!” I would just laugh and reply “I think it’s time to join the modern world.” They did not like it because over time, with each visit, I noticed more of them giving a hand after dinner and around the house. When our eyes would meet, I’d just smile and they would just shrug their shoulders.

Here’s the original video but it doesn’t have english subtitles yet. Click this link to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s post which has a video version with english subtitles. It’s a must see.
Here’s the story behind the campaign

Bullying is an important topic for us at Dadomatic. Here are more pieces on this urgent matter that’s destroying too many lives and families.

Look, I grew up watching Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the whole Peanuts gang. I still enjoy watching their holidays specials every year with my kids because of the nostalgia factor so I am sure that I will always love them. We are all super excited to watch the new Peanuts animated 3D motion picture that’s coming this holiday season for the big screen.

However, I must be honest and share something with you my fellow parent. With the benefit of maturity and the experiences of being a parent to three children, I’ve come to look at Charlie Brown and company in a whole different way and it’s not good.

If you really watch and listen to Chuck and his cohorts you’ll notice all of the inherent problems with the series. First and foremost, Charlie Brown suffers from depression and he whines incessantly. Of course, he’s given many reasons for this behavior by the group of inconsiderate bullies in his life such as Lucky. Checkout her sadistic glee every time she tricks the poor schmuck Chuck with the football. (His stupidity in trusting this troll over and over again doesn’t make him look too bright)

Here’s the usual view we get of  Charlie Brown

Checkout this short video showing Chuck mad or sad

As for some of the others, they aren’t all mean like Lucy but they have their own issues to deal with like Schroeder who obviously has some sort of problem when it comes to dealing with people. He’s always fixated on his piano (much like kids today are glued to their smartphones, iPads or game consoles). In his case, though, maybe it’s a good thing he’s oblivious to the affections of that meanie Lucy. 

As for Linus, who’s one of the sweetest kids in the Peanuts gang, his problem involves his attachment to that blanket but that’s not a big deal. My first born son was attached to his baby pillow until about age 12? I found it adorable so who am I to judge this kid who isn’t even real?

Snoopy was an unusual canine to say the least. He was a delusional dog whenever he started imagining that his dog house was a Sopwith Camel fighter plane.

Don’t even get me started with Pig-Pen… whose personal hygiene issues are obvious.

As for the adults in the series such as the parents and teachers, all we ever hear is a loud trombone type of of sound instead of actual voices or words. No wonder these kids are all lost and misguided. They don’t have any solid adult supervision.

OK, I understand that it was just a comic strip and cartoon series. I know that the creator Charles Schultz had to establish interesting characters and he had to create conflict….and they usually had a good moral story to convey with a happy ending. But still, there was a ton of whining and meanness in these stories.

This brings me to recent times as a parent when one day I noticed something familiar with a current cartoon series that my kids all liked at one time or another…. Caillou.

Yes, there’s striking similarity between Caillou and Charlie Brown besides the physical abnormality of early onset baldness. Caillou is also a chronic complainer and incessant whiner…. so much so that I’ve christened him the Canuck Chuck.

Caillou’s famous catchphrase to his parents?

“I Don’t Want to!”

Here’s a short compilation video someone made showing Caillou doing what he does best

I used to tease my kids by saying that Caillou and Charlie Brown were related hence their familiar appearance and demeanor. Needless to say they weren’t impressed with my theory.

Let’s hear what the Peanuts creator has to say about his characters

Here’s an awesome documentary about Peanuts and its creator

Confession

I confess that this whole piece was written with tongue in cheek because I love all of these cartoons because they will forever be linked to my childhood and now to my children’s childhood too. Yes, even Caillou has a place in my heart for all the joy his show gave my kids.