Kids with epilepsy may be hurt and upset by Kangaroo Jack

Warning to Parents About 'Kangaroo Jack'
Posted: January 24, 2003

Kids with epilepsy may be hurt and upset by references to epilepsy in the new movie, "Kangaroo Jack." Check out our Parents Helping Parents site to find out how some parents feel about it.

The movie is rated PG and warns that it contains ?crude humor? that may not be suitable for children. How right they are. Here?s what happens in the movie: a man is trying to describe a woman he?s met. He gestures wildly and makes a variety of sounds. The friend responds, ?She?s epileptic?? Later, the same man suggests they ask for her help, and the friend responds again, ?The epileptic?? The audience laughs both times, as they?re intended to. But to kids who live with epilepsy (and adults, too), it?s not funny at all -- just cheap shots at a vulnerable population.

The Epilepsy Foundation is contacting AOLTimeWarner and Warner Brothers to protest the ridiculing of epilepsy in "Kangaroo Jack," and urging removal of those references in all future DVD/VHS or TV distribution. If you share our view, write to Richard Parsons, the new Chairman and CEO of AOLTimeWarner (corporate headquarters AOL/TimeWarner, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019), with copies to Barry M. Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers (Warner Bros. Films, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, Twenty-Ninth Floor New York, NY 10019).

If you also feel strongly enough about this issue, please contact your local media to make them aware of how upset you were with "Kangaroo Jack."

[image=http://movies.go.com/images/movies/d/downandunder_2002.jpg] For the love of God, please contact your local media and express your disgust and outrage! What were these filmakers thinking? This is worse than the Mr. Magoo debacle. I urge you all to support The Epilepsy Foundation, not because you give a crap about their weird, overly politically correct agenda, but because films like this should be defamed and slandered at every opportunity.

Thank you for your support in this matter. If we don't act now, before you know it there will be a sequel.

 

I'm Disgusted

 

And I thought this movie was my destiny.

 

P.C ness run amuck. People need to toughen up and get lives. Aren't there more important things to complain about?

 

I can name more meaningful things about that movie for people to be hurt and upset about.

 

I am hurt by the studio and the producers of this film for making it a reality. Kangaroos everywhere should revolt.

 

Well, I'm upset, and I don't even have epilepsy. Well, a friend of mine had a mild form of it for a while (or was it just a rare virus, I can't remember, it was diagnosed as epilepsy for a time anyway) but that's not really relevant. It's not nice to make fun of people for their problems or conditions or whatever. Except politicians, who are for the most part greedy liars, but you can only pick on those parts of their personality, not their bad smell or weight troubles.

Anyway, they weren't exactly saying epileptic people are in any way bad, were they? The guy shakes around violently, and his partner in crime takes this to be meaning that the woman mentioned has epileptic fits (which, I believe, happen to cause either wild thrashing or simply blacking out). Technically they're correct, you know. But hey, it's upsetting for something like that to be made fun about if you suffer from it. So, what I suggest is, they rewrite that scene, with the first guy holding out his arms wide and the other replying "oh, she's fat?". That way no-one will be offended, because we all know fat people aren't real people, since no-one defends them when they're made fun of in the media. There's no PC-Police looking out for their fragile minds. Same with ugly people and virgins.

EDIT: Oh, and short people aren't looked after well either (except maybe certified dwarrow). Poor Elf.

 

I know I could care less about anything involing this movie. I say, if you see it, then you desrve to be mortally wounded.



Losers always whine about their best.

 

I agree with ferelwookie Get over it. Do I get upset everytime a short joke is made in a movie? NO.

Get some backbone people.

 

That is so wrong, now I'm not going to see it.

 

OMG that is so awfull!!!!!

 

Well...if it's making fun of disadvantaged children, then it DEFINITELY deserves my money and support!! As you all know, I am nothing but an evil, evil man!!


You really need to get over it.



Losers always whine about their best.

 

Considering the film's reviews, I don't think it should cause too much of a problem.

Chicago Tribune 1½ stars/4 ? it is hard not to cringe.

E! Online C- ? horribly formulaic ?

Entertainment Weekly D ? a desert of shrill juvenile jokes and clanging chase sequences.

Film Threat 1½ stars/5 ? the acting is atrocious.

L.A. Weekly N/A ? things get bad: camel-fart jokes, "local color" dialogue from those Paul Hogan Qantas ads, computer-generated flora and fauna

Los Angeles Times N/A ? 88 minutes of desperate gyrations intended to simulate humor.

New York Post 1½ stars/4 Go walkabout, mate.

New York Times N/A ? wants to have it both ways: to be mean and bratty while retaining a wholesome veneer.

Planet Sick-Boy 2/10 ? at its very best, an impossibly stupid movie.

Slant Magazine 1 star/4 ? clunky and uninspired.

TV Guide 1½ stars/5 ? never becomes completely boring.

Variety N/A ? a shrill and silly farce in which a CGI marsupial seems more lifelike than most of its flesh-and-blood co-stars. m

Village Voice N/A ? Jerry Bruckheimer has an unparalleled knack for assembling Z-grade talent ?

 

I urge you all to support The Epilepsy Foundation, not because you give a crap about their weird, overly politically correct agenda

nice. real nice. an organization that exists for the benefit of people with a terrible disease has some sort of "politically correct agenda"? please.

me thinks some of you aren't thinking about the fact that the outcry over the movie is because of the way it could effect children with epilepsy. my nephew has epilepsy and i sure as hell don't want him to see this movie, not because of lame politically correct reasons, but because it could be hurtful to him and give him the wrong ideas.

grow thicker skin? don't be so sensitive? lighten up? yeah, try telling that to a 4 year old. i'm sure it will make a huge difference.

 

PiaS,

Name a movie and I can find someone who will take issue.

The fact of the matter is that in this case, the Foundation is being way over sensitive and you know it. Were blind people justified in attacking the Mr. Magoo film because they felt it mocked the blind? Did Shallow Hal bother you because it showcased a man falling in love with an overweight woman as humorous? Should people with Tourette's boycott Deuce Bigalow and those with anger issues cry out over The Waterboy?

I don't think so.

 

That is so wrong, now I'm not going to see it. angry.gif

I'm baffled that you were going to see it in the first place.

It is a disgusting joke. It could, however, be a lot worse.

 

Does this mean we can make racist, bigoted and anti-sematic jokes now? After all, they're just words, and if someone gets all offended by me making jokes about their religion or whatever, then surely those PC freaks should grow up and get a thicker skin, right?

 

The fact of the matter is that in this case, the Foundation is being way over sensitive and you know it. Were blind people justified in attacking the Mr. Magoo film because they felt it mocked the blind? Did Shallow Hal bother you because it showcased a man falling in love with an overweight woman as humorous? Should people with Tourette's boycott Deuce Bigalow and those with anger issues cry out over The Waterboy?

I don't think so.

i haven't seen all those movies, but i know that (with maybe the acception of Mr. Magoo. i don't really know anything about it) they aren't supposed to be movies for kids. this lame kangaroo movie is aimed at a young audience. that is the key element of the whole issue, the fact that this is a kids' movie.




EDIT: let me put it another way-

Q: why are they complaining?
A: because of how it could effect kids.
Q: who is the movie aimed at?
A: kids

see what i mean?

EDIT #37: i hate my keyboard.

 

"Does this mean we can make racist, bigoted and anti-sematic jokes now? After all, they're just words, and if someone gets all offended by me making jokes about their religion or whatever, then surely those PC freaks should grow up and get a thicker skin, right?"

Turn on your television to any major network. If after thirty minutes you haven't seen or heard something that is either racist, bogoted, or anti-sematic then you weren't paying attention.

 

I wasn't going to go see it because it looked stupid but now I know for sure that it is stupid.

 

"Turn on your television to any major network. If after thirty minutes you haven't seen or heard something that is either racist, bigoted, or anti-sematic then you weren't paying attention."

Well I live in the UK so our television programing is quite different, but I have only ever heard anti-white and anti-Christian remarks. Plus, how many MAJOR NETWORKS are also kids' networks?

 

Kids with epilepsy may be hurt and upset by Kangaroo Jack

Kids without epilepsy may be hurt and upset by Kangaroo Jack. The lameness hurts my eyes.

 

"Kids without epilepsy may be hurt and upset by Kangaroo Jack. The lameness hurts my eyes. "

That explains why you make me where a bag over my head in your presence.

 

So this is what they're putting out now, crap? *Sighs* Welcome to the real world, I can tell you I'm not gonna go see it