I recently caught the trailers for an upcoming kids' movie "Hoot". The movie, for those who haven't seen the previews, is about the conflict between a group of developers (EVIL!) who want to build a pancake house and a group of kids who will stop at nothing to make sure that doesn't happen because of a family of owls nesting in the ground at the site.

The previews show the children pulling all sorts of pranks on the developers to halt the development; the pranks are, of course, justified because they elicit laughter, and, after all, that family of owls is more important than the property rights of the owner.

I'm quite disturbed at the message that movies like this send our young children. Is it that much of a stretch, for instance, for a kid to graduate from pranks intent on sabotaging development to potentially lethal actions such as driving nails into trees to potentially kill or injure loggers when they log your favorite stretch of old growth forest? Is it a responsible message to send that the rights of a family of owls preempt the rights of developers who have purchased a property to develop it as they see fit, creating jobs for the community? On the lighter side, has anyone noticed that the death of a few owls, which are predatory, will certainly save the lives of certain smaller rodents who might otherwise end up on the dinner table for Mr and Mrs. owl and the twins? Or does the "cuteness" factor grant greater rights to the owls than to the select rodents that might make it to the menu?

Hollywood is, sadly, carrying the "message movie" to the next generation. While conservationism is a responsible message to pass on to our children, militant environmentalism is not. As children go to see this movie because it is packaged as a cute kids' movie, and those are in short supply nowadays, they will most likely walk away believing the ends justify the means. And, little by little, intolerance will be passed on to the next generation.

I intend not to see this flick for that reason. I believe it is irresponsible and shameful propaganda disguised as entertainment. I just hope enough parents are savvy enough to see it as the same to prevent this kind of idiocy from overwhelming children's entertainment.