Top Ten Neglectful and Horrible Parents in Movies and Television
10. Lion King: Scar told the King, "I was first in line before the little hairball was born." So after telling his son all the things he needed to know to rule the kingdom, Mufasa decided to let Scar babysit his kid. Wow that was a bad decision. Scar told Simba about the elephant graveyard, and basically set up a plot to have the kid killed. At this point Mufasa and Simba had a little chat that should have started out with, "How did you find out about this place?" But instead, he turned it into a tender moment, and the next day he let Scar babysit again. Awesome job Mufasa!
9. Goonies: First off, someone should have taught these kids to not scream so much. I might be able to stand watching this movie if it wasn't for the screaming. And parents should talk to their kids about how they dress when they leave the house, yikes. So we know the main parents are somewhat neglectful, but then it seems every parent in the entire community just vanishes when they are needed. Is there a, come-be-bad-parents seminar that made them all miss the fact that their kids were in danger?
8. Phantom Menace: There are two sets of bad parents here and they are both connected to young Anakin. First off the actor's parents should never have let him take that role. There is a certain point where parents need to step in and say, "you're just not a good actor." It would save the entire world saying it over and over for the rest of his life. Second set of terrible parents, is the mother slave. Why would you let your son go with strangers who are incapable of repairing a vehicle on their own? Think about it. If you are going to send your kid with someone, pick someone who is fairly capable of taking care of themselves, and someone who doesn't gamble with things he doesn't own. Bad mommy award goes to you.
7. X-Men: When I send my kids to school I do a tour of the school. While I like the X-men and I love Xavier's school, I think the parents should have noticed something was up with their kids, and they should have looked into the school. I know I would think it was odd if my child couldn't, let's say, open his eyes without blowing a hole in the roof of our house...
6. Cypher Raige: If you don't know who this is, you are a better person for not knowing. If you do know who this is, I am sorry you wasted part of your life. I saw the movie for free and still felt like I was severely ripped off! If you are thinking to yourself, "I need to look up who that is." Don't. If you already did, and you're thinking, "Oh yeah, I saw an ad for that movie, maybe I should go see it." Double Don't!
5. Dora: Who let's their kid hang out with a monkey? Get her to a daycare where she can make real friends. Or put up a fence so she knows how to get home without a magic map. At least advise her to avoid Crocodile Lake from time to time. The list goes on and on.
4. Frozen: If my kid had special powers that were targeted by fear, I don't think I'd lock her away from the world and make her afraid of herself and her powers. These parents pretty much ruin the bulk of their children's lives and we're all supposed to be happy at the end when the daughters are finally able to be together. They could have been together from the start if the parents hadn't been terrible. At least they won't be around for the sequel.
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: They are teenagers, keep an eye on them. No teenager should be running around in the sewer and getting into fist fights in the night time while in disguise. And give them some vegetables from time to time, pizza is good, but probably want to limit it to once a week. Bad rat daddy.
2. Bedtime Stories: This single mom, with a principal certificate leaves her children in the care of her incompetent brother while she is across the country job searching. That I can understand. But the junk she feeds them before she leaves, yuck! What a terrible human being!
1. Harry Potter: I can forgive Harry's parents for dying, but the rest of the parents in this movie/book series are made up of the most useless people ever! Don't you care at all about your children? I think that if my child was attacked by a troll at school, I'd pull them out. I sometimes think the Dursleys were the only parents with any brains in the whole bunch. Lesson learned: Keep your kids away from magic.
Picture from http://www.joeydevilla.com/2008/10/20/hail-satan-or-day-1-at-microsoft/