The most annoying children in movies

In today's T2 Caitlin has written about the scariest movies of all - the ones in which the children are smug, wise-cracking cynics, smirking their way through popular films.

For me, some of the most annoying children are in genre-crossing "family" films or even adult movies, where the child is designed to tug your heartstrings and make you think of the *important* bits of life. A few examples:

Home Alone
You may be surprised to learn that Home Alone was nominated for two Oscars. You may not be surprised to learn that neither of the nominations was for acting.

Jerry Maguire
Who's more annoying - the impish kid with oversized glasses denoting that he needs a daddy, or Renee Zellweger as Tom Cruise's wettest love interest ever and her witless "you had me at hello" line? It's a tough one to call.

Harry Potter
All everybody can talk about is how special Harry is. He never rebels or breaks out or misbehaves. This annoyingness is accentuated by the actor himself who is apparently the richest annoying under-21 in the world.

The War of the Worlds
Dakota Fanning (pictured) mews, looks helpless, and screams but unfortunately is never actually taken by the aliens.

Horror-film kids
Don't give your boy a bowl haircut or they could end up like the kid from The Omen or The Shining. And don't let children sing nursery rhymes together in soft sing-songy voices, as this always spells Impending Doom Perpetrated in a Creepy Way.

And some kids who act like real kids:

Little Miss Sunshine
Olive dances to Superfreak and loves her grandpa. She's part of a highly dysfunctional family. What's not to love?

The Sixth Sense
A real-seeming kid who lives with a down-to-earth mom and some very needy dead people.

Got any of your own?

Comments

[Kitta]

ME too me too!
That ad is so nauseating.
And twee and knowing and oh even thing about it makes me mad

[Shirley]

It isn't just movies...........I have to change the channel when those two "loveable moppets" in the "Just for Men" commercial appear. Now wonder the poor bugger's gone prematurely grey!

[Kim]

Gosh, thanks for pointing that out Neil. I don't think any of us had realised that these children were actors saying lines - we were all under the impression that they were real people.

[Neil Murphy]

The complaints about actors (young and old) seem really about the roles not the actors. Renee Zellweger and Dakota Fanning played the roles and said the lines they were given, they did not create the parts.

[Susan]

I've always though Macauley Culkin was rather a subversive figure in Home Alone- a child who can shop for himself, keep house and maim and disfigure persistent intruders who try to get in the back door. He didn't shed tears, he got straight to the blood-letting. If anything, it was the old guy next door who was the 'cute' one in that film. In real life of course, Mac was hanging out with a disfigured and persistent smooth criminal with a reputation for trying to kick in children's back doors. Hm.

And who can doubt the grit of the original Dakota Fanning, Jodie Foster? In Bugsy Malone, her smouldering and wisecrackery could outstrip Mae West. A turn as a child prostitute with De Niro as your leading man is not your standard Disney fare either!

Daniel Radcliffe? Well, Harry Potter graduated Hogwarts (where he took on the wizarding world's Nazi equivalents) and indulged in bestiality. hagrid would not have approved!

Cute kids? No way!

[starling]

Dan Radcliffe did an excellent job in David Copperfield. I don't know what happened after that. Chris Columbus, probably. If I were Dan, I'd sue him.

[Kim]

Mostly agree, but I do have a soft spot for the wisecracking little girl in The Philadelphia Story.

[carol]

A younger Dakota Fanning is great(as is Sean Penn) in "I am Sam."

[Blackjack Davy]

All of them. And most of the adults too.

[Gipsy]

oh, I thought Dakota Fanning was a quite good actor in WotW.