I have seen quite a few children's movies over the last few years. I admit that I am starting to like them better than adult ones. Today Tom and I saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and last week we saw Frozen.

There is a lot to admire about both. Like pretty much all kids movies, the audience appeal is broad and there are built in laughs for the adults. Film makers are perfectly aware of who is shelling out the readies.

But there are also nuances in plot and character which suggest greater complexity. Characters are not uniformly good or evil. Stereotypes are sometimes inverted (as in Frozen)so that strong, able female leads emerge, who are not saved by heroic chaps. The happy endings are still in place but they are not without the pain of the journey or the emergence of self-awareness.

Which is to say that, while still being entirely in the realm of fantasy, they more closely mimick reality.

I don't think it's the child within me that craves these kinds of movies. There is simply enough brutality, sadness and tragedy in the real world for me to want to watch it again and again on the screen.