By Dennis D. McDonald

My wife and I just got MoviePass cards. The first film we went to see was Pixar's COCO. I had seen the movie before and had loved it. Our Mexican rooted relatives had also given it their stamp of approval. I figured my wife would love it too. I was right.

Thankfully the awful OLAF'S FROZEN ADVENTURE is no longer being shown in theaters with COCO. Also, I noticed that the version of COCO we saw together at the multiplex did not have Spanish subtitles as I had remembered from my original viewing.

One thing that had NOT changed between viewings was the quality of the previews of coming attractions. Most were for child focused animated films. These included the brief and ubiquitous spot for INCREDIBLES 2. The others were for non-Disney/non-Pixar animated films.

One thing I noticed again about these other carton previews is that each manages to illustrate at least one fart joke. Not that I am prudish about such matters but this got me to thinking that I don't recall Disney or Pixar focusing on fart jokes to get laughs.

So what, you say? Aside from the coarsening and dumbing down of child-oriented media, what could possibly be the problem with a little fart joke now and then? Can't we just let the kids have their fun?

Maybe you're right. But when I see each animated film featuring at least one fart joke for the kids, I have to wonder about the level of creativity and originality that has gone into that film. I know the years of labor that goes into Pixar films -- I read Ed Catmull's book. Is going for cheap jokes evidence that the coming film is a stinker?

Copyright (c) 2018 by Dennis D. McDonald. This essay was also published in edited form by aNewDomain.