The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure is promoting itself as "Rated GGG" - which apparently represents the 3 Gasps! you'll make in this unexpectedly NOT OKAY movie for little kids.
Considering The Oogieloves is made by the creator of Teletubbies, I expected understanding that kids 2-5 mimic what they see. In trying to rescue five birthday balloons that were accidentally released, the puppets that resemble colorful human children continuously put themselves in dangerous situations.
First, after one Oogielove climbs up a ladder to rescue a balloon from a treetop, he expresses distress at how climbing down is much harder than climbing up. So, the "magical" balloon - which looks like the exact same mylar balloons filled with helium kids typically carry - convinces him to jump and the balloon will get him down safely. In other words, the little kids see they can jump from a dangerously high surface with a balloon and they'll be okay.
Later, the scientist Oogielove climbs on top of an airplane but the balloon is out of reach. The scientist deduces that he needs to lean at a 59% angle to reach the balloon and then does a Michael Jackson "Smooth Criminal" lean that defies gravity - while precariously perched up high - and, of course, is totally fine.
Additionally, I'm not sure why it was necessary for Toni Braxton to wear a low cut, cleavage-revealing dress for the majority of her scenes. What really disturbed me is when she was singing, she kept running her hands across her body and breasts in a way that seems inappropriate for a Pre-K audience.
And, one way in which the Oogieloves try to win back the balloon is my entering a milkshake drinking contest - in which an entire store of people each drink a huge (fattening) milkshake in seconds, racing to finish first. Really?
The get-out-of-your-chair and sing/dance/talk throughout the movie is kind of a "seemed like a good idea at the time" concept that, in reality, is a horrible idea. First, we're teaching children how to act in a movie - which is to sit quietly during the movie and be courteous to others - which is not what Oogieloves demonstrates. Second, while 5 year olds can understand the instructions of when to sit and when to stand and dance, younger kids may not. Instead, kids may wander into the aisle and now you have a theater of little kids trying to walk up and down the stairs, up and down the ramps, through the row of chairs -- IN THE DARK. My 2 year old not only ran up and down the side ramps, my little Road Runner ran out of the theater and into Lawless, which was showing in the next theater.
On the other hand, the children in our theater did stand, sing and dance throughout the film and did seem to heartily enjoy it. My little guy was the youngest one, so perhaps 2 is too young. Let's go with ages 3-5.
