User reviews

(r#20)

I've always thought that the Mystery Science Theater team is at its peak when Joel and the 'bots get the chance to riff on instructional short films. Honestly, these little films seem to have been made for the sole purpose of a man and two robots riffing them. They're made to be laughed at, wallowing in bad acting, annoying narrators and dated messages ("A Date with Your Family" is the prime example of idiotic preaching).

Appreciating Your Parents isn't half bad, actually. Sure, the acting is bad and it's not very entertaining, but the message is actually a good one: we should appreciate each other more and help each other out when we get the chance. Joel, Crow and Tom have a field day with it, but I feel that this movie, like "I Accuse my Parents", really doesn't deserve to be looked down upon. I'll give this short 4 out of 10.

Ah, what is it about instructional films of the 1950's that make them not stand up to the test of time? This one certainly didn't. The narrator is pretty annoying and sounds like an old hick.

Avoid this one unless you're watching the MST3K version.

A small kid never notices that his room is magically cleaned when he gets home from school. Then, one evening, he goes down to ask for a bigger allowance and hears his parents talking about their work, and realizes his mother cleans his room, makes the food, and his father works hard to bring home the money. So he starts taking care of his room himself.

The Coronet short film, released in color, is clearly aimed at young children, since the narrator speaks like he's addressing idiots, talking about "the family team". I suppose to someone with no sense of what 'family' means, calling it a team makes a certain amount of sense. On the other hand, it denigrates family. Did the small child think brownies hung everything up and mended his torn clothes?