The Power of Mom: Meet the Oogieloves! #RatedGGG

Last week, Sarah and I had the chance to attend an event for the upcoming movie, The Oogieloves in The BIG Balloon Adventure.  It was a great event where we had a chance to hear from the producer (Kenn Viselman), head of marketing (Eileen Potrock) and the writer of the Oogieloves, Scott Stabile.  It was a great opportunity to find out the inspiration behind the movie and find out why the people behind the movie are really promoting the “power of Mom.”

First, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure is different from 95% (my figure) of all the kids movies out there because it’s interactive – the creators wanted to make a movie experience that was similar to a live show but one that EVERYONE could attend instead of being limited by the ticket price.  After all, a movie ticket is much easier to purchase than a ticket for a live show.   Second, the creators wanted to do something very different, and that was create a G rated movie that was truly G-rated.  Moms and Dads, you know what I’m talking about – those movies that are ‘G’ but have scary elements or even adult themes that you end up explaining to your children.  The Oogieloves set out to be different, and they actually asked the MPAA for a new designation for their film: GGG.  They weren’t granted this request, but they’ve adopted it as their twitter hashtag, and you can follow along with The Oogieloves on twitter and follow the #RatedGGG hashtag to keep up on all the G-rated fun!

Ken, Eileen and Scott during the discussion.  

These people are truly passionate about changing the movie industry – but they can’t do it alone.  They need us – parents, caregivers, movie-goers to help prove that we want fun movies for our kids – not scary movies.  We want movies that inspire our children and give them exciting and smart characters to relate to – we don’t want bad guys!    Why do we have to see a movie that’s made for children with anything evil in it – why show evil at all?  I was really inspired by their commitment to giving parents a truly safe movie-going experience for their children.   There are some great ideas on the ‘caregiver’ section of the Oogieloves website, here.

Another very interesting aspect of this movie is that there will be no products.  None – you’d think the creators would be already counting the dollars merchandise from a kid’s film like this could bring in – and I think most creators of kids films do – but not these guys.   Have you ever watched a kids movie and thought: “They just made this so they could sell toys!”  I know I have…but that’s not the case with The Oogieloves.   You can, though, buy the music from the movie – like the Oogieloves cheer – on iTunes.

Want to learn more?  You can follow The Oogieloves on Facebook, and of course, check out their website.   They have several fun contests going on right now, and, of course, you can go see the movie when it comes out on “Oogust” 29th (too cute!)  I’m already planning on going to see it with Jeremiah, Sarah, and a friend and her daughter who both are looking for clean, fun, safe kids movies.  If you’re one of those parents, you should go see The Oogieloves and the Big Balloon Adventure, too!