History BrokenAesop / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/SeventeenAgain'': A subplot involves Ned romantically pursuing the school principal. His advances are rebuffed as long he is presenting himself as a ManOfWealthAndTaste; it's only when he reveals his true nature as a LovableNerd that he is successful -- because it turns out that the principal is also a ClosetGeek. The moral of the story seems to be that you'll have romantic success as long as you BeYourself, ''provided that the object of your affection happens to secretly have the exact same interests as you.''

* ''Film/BladeRunner'' can be interpreted different ways depending on which cut you watch. Harrison Ford has gone on record stating that he is not a proponent of one of the most popular fan theories regarding the protagonist. He points out that if [[spoiler: Deckard himself were also a replicant]], it would be a broken aesop, since the purpose of the story, as well as the original book, was to show [[spoiler: how human the android/replicants (most notably Roy Batty's final act) were compared to the inhumanity expressed by the humans who created them and are now hunting them down]].

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' tries to tell us that we can learn something from tribes who live with their homeworld, rather than off it. The Aesop breaks when you see that the Na'vi's ability to coexist with nature stems from their biology which they take for granted, rather than any sort of discipline. It's also worth mentioning that when an element of nature they ''can't'' biologically link with, that is '''humans''', enters the picture, they are completely unable (and rather unwilling) to coexist in any way whatsoever.

::The problem there is that "just trying to protect you" does not remotely justify the behavior of Wonka's father as shown in the flashback scenes. In the post-Halloween flashback, the father's tone made it sound very much like he was more interested in berating Wonka for wanting to be a normal kid than looking out for his dental health. When Wonka expresses a desire to get into the candy business, his father's reaction is clearly one of disgust, not concern. That sort of treatment is, by most standards, a perfectly valid reason to cut ties immediately upon reaching adulthood. ''Usually'' they're just trying to protect you - sometimes they're just offended that you would have the audacity to be different. Wonka was just lucky that his father saw the error of his ways during their time apart.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfElmoAndGrouchland'': Elmo has a blanket, and an argument over whether his friend Zoe should play with it leads to it landing in Grouchland and being stolen by a kleptomaniac hoarder named Huxley. At one point, the Queen of Trash says that Elmo's clinginess over his blanket makes him "sound like Huxley", which ties into the anti-greed moral. However, Elmo's and Huxley's behaviours were fundamentally different -- Huxley was taking ''other people's'' belongings and saying they were his, while Elmo's blanket really ''was'' his.

** ''Avatar'' frowns on colonialism and the idea that foreigners are superior and have the right to exploit a native population for their own gain. It also plays the MightyWhitey trope 100% straight and ends with the hero, a foreigner, having mastered all the arts of the natives through his superior skills and privileges and become their king in a matter of months, ready to live out his years in paradise after having exploited their traditions to come out on top. Sure, it was for a good purpose, but it's a little disingenuous to play up the greed and ambition of the invaders when your hero stands to gain everything and lose nothing by doing what he does.
*** Somewhat subverted in that it requires Jake to abandon his humanity (and whiteness) and devote himself fully to the Na'vi way of life and the truth of their deity Eywa, even permanently moving his mind into his avatar body despite not knowing whether it would kill him or save him.

* ''Film/BlackAdam2022'' makes a big song and dance over how Black Adam is unique and the hero Kandaq needs because he's willing to kill, despite the Justice Society wanting to arrest him for this. However, not only is Adam's willingness to kill not actually special within the DCEU, but he usually demonstrates this by just casually murdering random henchmen... which doesn't particularly help anything. In fact, when Amon is kidnapped by Intergang, the only reason they find him is because Hawkman went out of his way to save the henchmen that Adam was trying to kill so they could be interrogated. Similarly, Adam killing the BigBad is meant to be the final say on the matter... but the BigBad only became so powerful ''because'' Black Adam killed him in a fit of rage (which also injured the kid he was trying to rescue) thanks to an ancient artefact that allowed him to be resurrected as a demon; if Adam hadn't killed him, no killing would've been needed at all. So, at no point was Adam's killing actually useful for anything other than making up for an instance when his killing caused more problems.

** ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' has the tagline "You can't save the world alone." However, it might as well be "You can't save the world without ComicBook/{{Superman}}." Being individually [[StoryBreakerPower the most powerful character]] is shown to be the best way to prevail for both the heroes and the villain. While there are instances of the League working well as a team (a few hiccups aside), the main plot arc centers around the combined efforts of the other heroes not being enough to defeat Steppenwolf until Superman returns in the FinalBattle and punches him around easily. Amusingly, while ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' doesn't have that tagline, the League is far more in sync as a team, and while Superman's BigDamnHeroes does help turn the tide around and he's still just as easily able to [[CurbStompBattle trounce]] Steppenwolf, the day is ''not'' won entirely thanks to him (that's more on Flash and Cyborg).

* ''Film/WonderWoman1984'':
** One of the introductory scenes shows a young Diana losing a contest on Themyscira when she is forcibly restrained from completing the competition by Antiope after having taken a shortcut. The theme of "never taking shortcuts" rings hollow when one remembers that Diana is a princess and a demigod who was able to enter the toughest athletic competition on the island when she was just a child, and nearly outcompeted her older, more seasoned opponents thanks to her royal status, quick thinking and supernatural abilities.
** Maxwell Lord seems to be an indictment of '80s consumerism and capitalism as a whole. However, the rest of the movie goes out of its way to glorify '80s fashion trends, ritzy apartments and office spaces, fancy cars, and shopping malls, i.e. representations of those very things.
** For all of Diana's talk about how she has given up so much for the world and wants one thing (Steve) in return, she has an enormous condo, tastefully decorated, with a gorgeous view overlooking the Potomac... i.e. the exact sort of space someone like Lord might covet. Diana may not covet more the way Lord does, but still indulges to a hefty degree.
** The climax of the film shows Diana successfully convince the world to renounce the wishes Maxwell has given them by pointing out that "the truth is all you need". As pointed out by several online reviews, the message can also be taken that people across the world should be satisfied with their circumstances in life, even if they're poor, infirmed or wished for completely altruistic things. That the entire world seemingly accepted Diana's pleas without question (or being shown in any detail) belies the bizarre double-meaning of the intended theme.
** Barbara's behaviour and style changes as the film goes on to represent how she is seemingly being "corrupted" by the Wish Stone, and Diana only breaks the hold it has on her via the subsequent IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight moment. Yet, the film not only plays up the EvilIsCool stereotype in a benign way, but also makes Barbara UnintentionallySympathetic, in a similar manner to Selina Kyle in ''Film/BatmanReturns'' -- a character who is continually harassed by her co-workers (and in Barbara's case, a creep who she is only able to escape from with Diana's help), the film playing up her near-killing of the man who attempted to assault her as being the point where she's become irredeemably evil (even though this is the ''second'' time he's tried to do so) and her subsequent defense of Maxwell being done in a panic because she doesn't want to lose the benefits she's been given. It also makes the case that having a role model is not necessarily a good thing, as Barbara's idolization of Diana (despite Diana going out of her way to help her) leads to her becoming vindictive and jealous.

** Lucas himself stated that the whole point of ''Franchise/StarWars'' is that selflessness is the ultimate goal and that Anakin and Palpatine were unhappy because they were selfish ("Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of anything they want."), and preaching that ''"Where joy, by giving to other people you can’t think about yourself, and therefore there’s no pain."'' Good aesop on its face, but falls flat on it when you look at the story. The most selfish asshole in the whole setting, Palpatine, gets ''everything'' he wants. He spends most of the nine film saga living in great comfort and power, despite the physical effects (for all we know, he's [[WorthIt fine with the trade off]]) The ''selfless'' characters, like Shmi and Obi-Wan only get a TraumaCongaLine, live their lives as desperately unhappy for all their trouble, and die painful, lonely deaths. Even the heroes of Yavin get hit with HappyEndingOverride come the sequel trilogy; Luke is a broken and bitter old man, Leia and Han broke up, the Republic got curb stomped and blown off the map, and the Resistance is a hardscrabble mess. True, Palpatine dies at the end and his schemes die with him, but it's a quicker and less painful death than most of the selfless characters.

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'': During his training to become Batman, Bruce Wayne is ordered to kill a criminal that the League of Shadows arrested. He refuses, since he decided [[ThouShaltNotKill he will not be an executioner]]. The moral is IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim, but to escape the temple without having to kill the criminal, he intentionally burns the whole temple down, presumably killing many people there, maybe even the criminal he was ordered to kill in the first place. [[spoiler:(This is, however, consistent with his attitude towards the impending death of Ducard/Al-Ghoul when he declares, "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." Batman is apparently comfortable with being ''indirectly'' responsible for the deaths of others.)]]

* ''Film/ShallowHal'' had an intended Aesop about how people should not be so shallow and judge people on the kind of person they are, not by how they look on the outside. This loses some steam considering how many fat jokes it has at Rosemary's expense. It also doesn't help that Rosemary is morbidly obese - her weight is not simply a matter of aesthetics, but a severe health hazard. To suggest that someone like her has no need to change is outright dangerous.

* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'': It's a coming-of-age story with a fantasy backdrop, including something of a sexual awakening; Sarah overcomes childhood fantasy, leaves behind her toys and imaginary friends, and returns to the real world as a mature young adult... and then she is delighted to find all her Labyrinth friends pop into her room because she still needs them. Unlike most broken Aesops, though, this one tends to inspire AlternateAesopInterpretation more than criticism, since Sarah does clearly grow up despite continuing to embrace her childhood either way.

* ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' did this to ''an entire culture'' -- it glamorized the disco scene of TheSeventies (to the point that it was released in a sanitized PG-rated version that stripped out much of the more shocking elements), despite being a {{Deconstruction}} of said culture. Even with that excuse, the apparent message audiences took from it is far different than what the characters experience. It portrays heavy drug and alcohol use, empty casual sex, {{Jerkass}} protagonists with a serious case of MoralMyopia, and date rape (which is implied to be [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming Annette's fault]] for getting drunk and high, and wanting to make Tony jealous, instead of blaming Tony's friends for taking advantage of her.) And yet, disco is portrayed as glamorous: there's all the dancing, the obvious escape from reality, the cool outfits, and a great soundtrack featuring Music/TheBeeGees. In fact, if it weren't for this film, disco wouldn't have been as popular as it was.

** ''Film/CyberSeductionHisSecretLife'' attempts to preach AnAesop about how looking at Internet porn will ruin your life. The 14-year-old protagonist starts out as a champion swimmer and ends the film as a suicidal mess. Except because it's Lifetime TV, the most they can actually show is just Justin looking at [[FullyClothedNudity women in skimpy costumes]] and the film's Aesop gets undermined when all the problems that happen to Justin don't actually come from looking at porn in general. He gets addicted to energy drinks simply because he drinks them when he looks at porn, which could have just as easily happened from drinking them regularly during ''any'' activity; he also gets into trouble with people in town because the classmate whose porn he was watching accuses him of raping her because he ''won't'' sleep with her, which raises a ''lot'' of questions about said classmate's [[AmbiguousDisorder actions (and reaction to getting rejected)]] and why she's making porn of herself and hosting it on the Internet despite being underage - all of which, of course, [[SkewedPriorities the film completely ignores]] to focus on the clearly worse issue of a teenage boy looking at pornography.[[note]]The movie does throw a bone to the argument that it's perfectly natural for a teenage boy to look at porn by having the father espouse that belief, but he's [[TheUnfairSex a man in a Lifetime movie]]; he could have introduced himself by telling us the sky is blue and he'd still be in the wrong.[[/note]] Half the kid's problems stem less from him looking at/getting addicted to pornography and more from having a mother who feels such a habit warrants arm-flailing hysterics, therapy and interventions. And yet [[DesignatedHero the mother is meant to be the heroine of the story]].

** Lucas himself stated that the whole point of ''Franchise/StarWars'' is that selflessness is the ultimate goal and that Anakin and Palpatine were unhappy because they were selfish ("Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of anything they want."), and preaching that ''"Where joy, by giving to other people you can’t think about yourself, and therefore there’s no pain."'' Good aesop on its face, but falls flat on it when you look at the story. The most selfish asshole in the whole setting, Palpatine, gets ''everything'' he wants. He spends most of the nine film saga living in great comfort and power, despite the physical effects (for all we know, he's [[WorthIt fine with the trade off]]) The ''selfless'' characters, like Shmi and Obi-Wan only get a TraumaCongaLine, live their lives as desperately unhappy for all their trouble, and die painful, lonely deaths. Even the heroes of Yavin get hit with HappyEndingOverride come the sequel trilogy; Luke is a broken and bitter old man, Leia and Han broke up, the Resistance is a hardscrabble mess. True, Palpatine dies at the end and his schemes die with him, but it's a quicker and less painful death than most of the selfless characters.

** Lucas himself stated that the whole point of ''Franchise/StarWars'' is that selflessness is the ultimate goal and that Anakin and Palpatine were unhappy because they were selfish ("Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of anything they want."), and preaching that ''"Where joy, by giving to other people you can’t think about yourself, and therefore there’s no pain."'' Good aesop on its face, but falls flat on it when you look at the story. The most selfish asshole in the whole setting, Palpatine, gets ''everything'' he wants. He spends most of the nine film saga living in great comfort and power, despite the physical effects. The ''selfless'' characters, like Shmi and Obi-Wan only get a TraumaCongaLine, live their lives as desperately unhappy for all their trouble, and die a painful, lonely death. Even the heroes of Yavin get hit with HappyEndingOverride. True, Palpatine dies at the end, but it's a quicker and less painful death than most of the selfless characters.

* Lucas himself stated that the whole point of ''Franchise/StarWars'' is that selflessness is the ultimate goal and that Anakin and Palpatine were unhappy because they were selfish ("Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of anything they want."), and preaching that ''"Where joy, by giving to other people you can’t think about yourself, and therefore there’s no pain."'' Good aesop on its face, but falls flat on it when you look at the story. The most selfish asshole in the whole setting, Palpatine, gets ''everything'' he wants. He spends most of the nine film saga living in great comfort and power, despite the physical effects. The ''selfless'' characters, like Shmi and Obi-Wan only get a TraumaCongaLine and live their lives as desperately unhappy for all their trouble, and even the heroes of Yavin get hit with HappyEndingOverride. True, Palpatine dies at the end, but it's a quicker and less painful death than most of the selfless characters.

* ''[[Film/TwoHundredPoundsBeauty 200 Pounds Beauty]]'': The main character begins the movie overweight, providing the singing voice for a backup dancer turned pop star and nursing an unrequited crush. She gets a crazy amount of plastic surgery and remakes herself as Jenny. She has fame, beauty, and the attention of the guy she was in love with. She underwent a great deal of pain but it seems like it was worth it. But then the problems start. She is paranoid about her love interest touching her and either damaging her new body or discovering what's fake. She betrays her family and friends. But then she reveals all and keeps her fans. The movie makes it clear that she still has her detractors but she's also a very successful pop star and her personal life is great. So plastic surgery is bad and you should just be yourself, but you should also go for it anyway because all those fears are just in your head. Also, the movie ends with her plastic surgeon being very successful and her best friend going in to also get a ton of plastic surgery.
* ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'' has Dr. Adrian give a rousing speech aboard one of the doomsday-evading-Arks on the importance of humanity looking out for one another and convinces the captain to open the gates, allowing more people in. While well-intentioned, this decision indirectly results in the DiabolusExMachina offings of [[spoiler: Gordon and Tamara via the ship flooding]]. Not to mention no one even mentioning all the Chinese workers they just sent off the boats to die…

** There's a strong undercurrent of "girl power" in the film, what with its conversion of Alice from precocious youth to ActionGirl and the [[DeliberateValuesDissonance constant reminders of Victorian-era sexism]], but the film also goes out of its way to depict Alice's questioning nature and knowledge as something unusual (rather than in the book, where they're treated as common even in a girl her age) and even credits them to her father. Meanwhile, most of the characters in Wonderland that were jerks, idiots, and {{Know Nothing Know It All}}s that Alice opposed with her genuine wit and wisdom are [[AdaptationalHeroism rewritten to be more heroic]], often accomplishing far more impressive tasks than Alice or doing actually plot-relevant stuff while Alice sits on the sidelines, and almost all of the characters to receive this treatment are male. And while the movie takes a shot at the idea of women being only valued for their appearance, it also has characters insult the Red Queen for having a big head whenever possible.

* The 1999 adaptation of ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' falls into this due to AdaptationalKarma. The original book is principally about the problem of the FullCircleRevolution, and how any authority that places itself above the workers while taking the lion's share of their efforts is wrong, whether they identify as capitalist or communist. Humans, in the world of the book, [[HumansAreBastards embody the exploitative ruling class]], and any attempt by the animals to emulate humans is treated as a sign of placing themselves above their kin. The book ends on the chilling note that the [[MeetTheNewBoss pigs have become no different from humans,]] bullying and killing the other animals to make their money. However, the film decides to instead end with the farm being bought by another family of humans after the pig's organization collapses, and this is treated as a happy ending, because the new family will obviously run it much better than the pigs. So it turns out that an exploitative ruling class is perfectly fine, after all; just so long as it's a ''friendly'' exploitative ruling class. Indeed, considering that the farmer in the book was a clear metaphor for the Russian monarchy, apparently the movie is saying that the Soviet Union could have been fixed just fine [[{{Metaphorgotten}} if they'd reinstated the Tsars.]] Also, given when it was made, this may have been altered to reflect the fall of the USSR and [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia capitalist Russian Federation]] supplanting it (along with the other post-Soviet states), which was viewed favorably by most at the time (after Putin became effective dictator, many people's views soured).

** ''Avatar'' frowns on colonialism and the idea that foreigners are superior and have the right to exploit a native population for their own gain. It also plays the MightyWhitey trope pretty much 100% straight and ends with the hero, a foreigner, having mastered all the arts of the natives through his superior skills and privileges and become their king in a matter of months, ready to live out his years in paradise after having exploited their traditions to come out on top. Sure, it was for a good purpose, but it's a little disingenuous to play up the greed and ambition of the invaders when your hero stands to gain everything and lose nothing by doing what he does.

* ''Film/TheBlackStork'' was intended as a pro-eugenics film supporting the MercyKill of disabled infants, but in some ways it unintentionally supports the social model of disability. Despite the title cards' insistence that Leffingwell Jr.'s heritage makes him defective both physically and mentally, there's no evidence that he was born insane, and even his obvious deformities only rarely cause him any inconvenience that doesn't involve other people. In fact, it seems like he would have turned out fine if not for everyone treating him like a freak.

* ''Film/ChristmasWithTheKranks'', based on the Creator/JohnGrisham novel ''Skipping Christmas'', is about a couple whose adult daughter is going to be away for Christmas, so they decide to eschew their typical lavish, expensive and stressful celebration in lieu of a vacation cruise, to the protests of their overbearing neighbors. Predictably, their daughter announces, two days before Christmas, that she'll be back, and bringing along a new foreign boyfriend to whom she's been hyping the annual Christmas party for weeks, forcing the parents to abandon their plans and throw a party together at the last second, with the help of said neighbors. Intended moral: "Don't let the stress of preparations distract you from why you celebrate." However, since the couple's idea seems so reasonable to normal people, and the neighbors' reaction comes off as completely overblown, the real moral of the story is "You can't escape Christmas, even if you try." Not to mention, the entire reason the Kranks wanted to skip Christmas was they realized that for less money and none of the effort they put into their Christmas party they could go on a tropical cruise: in other words, skipping Christmas to go on the cruise ''was their way of not stressing the preparations so they could focus on why they celebrate the holidays''.

* ''Film/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|2002}}'' combines this with DoNotDoThisCoolThing in the final scene where Edmund professes that his revenge was not worth the steep moral and physical price he paid to achieve it. On the other hand, we just spent two hours watching him enjoy every minute of his bloody revenge and ''it was awesome''.
* ''Film/{{Crash}}'': Despite the film proudly bearing an obstinately anti-racist message, the only two Koreans of any real importance to the plot turn out to be slave traffickers. Not to mention, Asians being bad drivers is a running gag in this anti-racist film.

* ''Film/DayBreakers'' is set in a world of vampires and a dwindling supply of blood is basically one long analogy for our dependence on oil. Which is fine right up until the end where they create a substitute for blood which gives us not, "don't blindly waste resources and deal with the problem before it becomes a problem" but "blindly waste resources and science will stop the collapse of civilization just in the nick of time." It gets further broken when you consider that alternatives to fossil-fuels already exist; they're just not yet economical.
** It’s also pretty daft comparing dependency on oil to the diet vampires are biologically hardwired with. They have ''no choice'' but to drink blood; most of them are unaware there is a cure and they are ''physically incapable'' of consuming anything else.

** Despite switching to a GreenAesop, [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 its 2008 remake]] doesn't do so well, either. We're destroying the other species on our planet, and aliens think that's bad. Fine. So why does Helen's love for Jacob change Klaatu's mind? A mother's love for a child of her own species, while charming, doesn't really show anything except a desire to perpetuate her species. It'd be more valid if she showed love for an animal, perhaps something [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute completely dissimilar to humans.]] Instead, ThePowerOfLove conquers all. Also, in the original, despite the distrust he faces, [[RousseauWasRight Klaatu still believes in human goodness]], whereas in the remake, Klaatu is as distrustful of humans as they are of him.

* ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'': First wife Brenda is obsessed with her weight and taunted about her [[HollywoodPudgy supposed fatness]] by her ex's new girlfriend. This treatment is rightfully seen as incredibly cruel. However, only minutes earlier, Brenda was snarking that "the bulimia has certainly paid off" in reference to the girlfriend's slimness. Plus, she makes nasty comments about slim women throughout the film, "anorexic fetus", etc. All of which are presented as amusing. So it's horrible to taunt fat people about their weight, but perfectly acceptable to joke about slender people having a ''potentially deadly'' eating disorder?

** Also in the first film, after [[NayTheist Professor Radisson]] [[spoiler: lost to [[TheFundamentalist Josh Wheaton's]] case on God's existence, Radisson gets killed by a car, ''probably'' sent from "God", as a way to get him to change his faith on his deathbed]], basically giving out the message "Best way to change a Non-Christain's faith? Put them through hell or near-death experience!". Right before that happened, however, [[spoiler: the reason why Radisson was out to begin with was because he had read a letter from his diseased mother, saying no matter what happens, never lose faith. He then was moved by it, and tries to go to the Newsboys' concert so he can reconcile with both Josh and his ex-girlfriend, and decides to become a Christian again.]] So, not ''only'' that message was broken, but [[spoiler: especially since he's not EVEN a true "atheist" to begin with]].

* ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' tries to have the moral of "don't judge people who are different" that's basically made moot when you realize the circus troupe basically work in a job that relies on them being exploited and mocked for their deformities and, in real life, WAS a job where they were exploited for their looks.
* The ''Series/HannahMontana'' movie spends the entire movie preaching the {{Aesop}} of "BeYourself", even if it means giving up on the glittery lifestyle... And then it completely breaks it with a ResetButton ending. [[spoiler:Miley reveals her true identity to the people of Crowley Corners, and even sings a heartfelt song about having learned said Aesop... and then immediately afterwards the people of Crowley Corners proceeds to all agree to keep her identity a secret and let Miley continue her dual life.]]

** This is also an issue with Gigi and Creator/JustinLong's character. Basically, the entire movie lays out the premise that women need to accept men as straightforward -- if they say they're not interested, women need to accept this. But every single man who says this then changes his mind, proving that the women who were supposedly deluding themselves were in actually fact accurate -- Gigi was the exception to Alex's rule, Beth was correct in thinking a man will marry you if he loves you, etc.

* ''Film/LethalWeapon'' parts [[Film/LethalWeapon3 3]] and especially [[Film/LethalWeapon4 4]] contain some very strong anti-gun messages, including several TakeThat jabs at the NRA and a scene where Riggs explicitly tells Leo Getz that he shouldn't have a gun because he's not a cop, and then throws Leo's pistol (i.e. his personal property) into the ocean. It's easy to conclude from what the films have shown that our cop heroes shouldn't have them either, considering how many times they've demonstrated extraordinarily careless, irresponsible and dangerous behavior with guns, [[JugglingLoadedGuns including negligent discharges, muzzle sweeping, poor trigger discipline, and even pointing loaded guns at each other]] ''[[JugglingLoadedGuns for laughs]]''.
* ''Film/LiarLiar'': The moral is supposed to be that Fletcher's constant disregard for the truth was a bad thing that nearly caused him to lose his family and wasn't even necessary, since he still managed to win a massively important case without lying once. On the other hand, a number of instances show that Fletcher telling the truth was inconvenient for him but actively hurtful to other people, like a woman who was minding her own business in an elevator when a random guy starts talking about her breasts or the office assistant whose boss makes cruel remarks about her hairstyle and outfit. To its credit, it ''does'' at least have a scene where Fletcher explains to his son that there's a substantial difference between a good and bad lie, and a good and bad ''truth'', which is only lost on the boy because of how much he's been repeatedly hurt by his father's lies.

** ''Stranger in My Bed'' tries to empower women to leave their abusive husbands. The main protagonist, Sarah, leaves her husband by faking her death in a cave accident and flees across the country from Washington to West Virginia to get away. Aside from the apparent aim of stuffing as many DomesticAbuse cliches as they possibly can in one scene, it sort of accomplishes this goal... had the movie ended with her leaving. Her escape is only the beginning, as her husband inexplicably knows she's still alive, tracks her down, and basically becomes a serial killer, killing her friend for no reason, her new boyfriend's father for even less reason in what is basically a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, and then trying to kill Sarah herself and said new boyfriend, which isn't better but more logical. This is absolutely mangled, as the first half tells abused women to leave, only for the second half to say that if you ''do'' leave, your abusive husband will ''kill everybody you've ever cared for''.

** Furthermore, the movie's AntiEscapismAesop where Wade totally shuts down the OASIS a couple days every week because the creator realized too late real life is the greatest adventure, and he wants to pass that along to the rest of the players.

* ''Film/TheSwarm'' (1978) preaches environmental responsibility: the military wants to use pesticides that would damage the environment, while Creator/MichaelCaine's scientist, Dr. Crane, keeps suggesting other methods. Unfortunately, the threat of the killer bees is [[GodzillaThreshold so overdone]] (at one stage, they cause the [[FailsafeFailure explosion of a nuclear power plant]]) that this continuing refusal is hard to justify. Especially when Crane finally succeeds by ''pouring oil on the ocean and setting it on fire''. Since when are burning oil slicks environmentally friendly?
* ''Film/SwimmingWithSharks'': Buddy Ackerman, who's being tortured by Guy whom he had mistreated, unleashes a speech about how one has to suffer to earn good things and be willing to work for them and how he endured it too. It would be nice except that Buddy was not simply a demanding or strict boss but a complete and utter sadist who took extreme pleasure in mistreating everyone he could and even blatantly stole a brilliant idea Guy had. The film spends so long showing Buddy as a monster and Guy as a dogged employee that the sudden shift to make Guy the bad one for committing these acts just feels like a last-minute apology. If Buddy's speech is the intended Aesop, the moral of the story is "If you endure suffering, you have every right in the world to make others go through the same and anyone who says otherwise is a naive spoiled brat."

* The film ''Film/Utoya22Juli'', a reenactment of the Breivik Massacre (the film being named for the island and date it took place on) has, among others, the moral that it is possible to retain humanity while on the run from a shooter. The catch is, the heroine helps absolutely no one and gets herself uselessly killed. If she had run to the hiding place and stayed there, it would be better for everyone. Also, the director stated that the aim of the film is to show the danger of right-wing extremism, but since all of Breivik's motives and his phrases (he was reportedly shouting "Die Marxists!" during his rampage) are cut from the film, there is nothing left to support this thesis.

** Maxwell Lord seems to be an indictment of '80s consumerism and capitalism as a whole. However, the rest of the movie goes out of its way to glorify '80s fashion trends, ritzy apartments and office spaces, fancy cars, and shopping malls, i.e. representations of those very things. Also, for all of Diana's talk about how she has given up so much for the world and wants one thing (Steve) in return, she has an enormous condo, tastefully decorated, with a gorgeous view overlooking the Potomac... i.e. the exact sort of space someone like Lord might covet. Diana may not covet more the way Lord does, but still indulges to a hefty degree.

* ''Film/CoolCatFightsCoronavirus'':
** Cool Cat manages to give some kids some surprisingly good advice about social distancing and wearing masks. The problem is, they stick to these rules for about ten seconds before abandoning them completely. Cool Cat doesn't wear a mask for the entire film, one of the girls takes her mask off to perform a rap song, and they all come in for a group hug at the end. That, and [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine Cool Cat supposedly ended the pandemic by punching COVID so hard that it exploded]], so should we still worry about it or not?
** The film contains the rather shoehorned message "Respect other people's opinions and beliefs about coronavirus". Ignoring whether or not this message is even appropriate, it's completely undermined because the only character in the film who thinks COVID is a hoax is an asshole who goes around deliberately infecting people ForTheEvulz (despite him apparently not believing in COVID in the first place).
* ''Film/CoolCatSavesTheKids'': One of the many spectacular failures of the film is that it doesn't even manage to get a clear message across:
** One scene has one of Cool Cat's friends nearly get hit by a car, which of course leads to a lecture about how you should always look both ways when crossing the street. Then, in the ''very next scene'', Butch the Bully appears on the other side of the street with candy that he just stole from babies, and Cool Cat runs after him across the street without looking both ways.
** One of the film's main messages is to tell an adult about bullying or if you find a gun. That's all very well, except AdultsAreUseless is in play throughout the entire film. Erik Estrada and Creator/VivicaAFox do absolutely nothing to prevent Butch from bullying Cool Cat at Vivica's house. Creator/DerekSavage himself endangers the kids unnecessarily by making them walk home on their own while there's someone on the loose who's threatening people with a gun. And Butch's parents are told that their son has a gun and yet do nothing to stop him bringing it to school.
** Some of the morals are just plain untrue. For example, the movie teaches that you shouldn't be a bully because bullies have no friends. In real life it's much more likely for the victims to be the ones with no friends, while the bullies are often popular and work in groups.
** The film also says that bullies don't like attention and so you should shout at them to get them to go away. This is the exact opposite of what you should do, as bullies usually want a reaction from their target. Cool Cat's hysterical "Leave us alone right naaaaaaoooow!" would have been just what Butch was looking for and would have kept him coming back for more.
** The remake, ''Cool Cat Kids Superhero'', has a scene where Cool Cat finds a lollipop lying around and sings a song about how yummy it is, but then decides he "doesn't want candy" and puts it back without eating it. This is potentially meant to provide a moral about healthy eating, but Cool Cat never gives any reason why he shouldn't eat candy, making it come across as DoNotDoThisCoolThing. There's also the obvious issue with the supposed children's safety mascot deciding to eat some unwrapped food that was left lying about for who knows how long.

** Cool Cat manages to give some kids some surprisingly good advice about social distancing and wearing masks. The problem is, they stick to these rules for about ten seconds before abandoning them completely. Cool Cat doesn't wear a mask for the entire film, one of the girls take her mask off to perform a rap song, and they all come in for a group hug at the end. That, and [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Cool Cat supposedly ended the pandemic by punching COVID so hard that it exploded]], so should we still worry about it or not?

* ''Film/CoolCatSavesTheKids'': One scene has one of Cool Cat's friends nearly get hit by a car, which of course leads to a lecture about how you should always look both ways when crossing the street. Then, in the ''very next scene'', Butch the Bully appears on the other side of the street with candy that he just stole from babies, and Cool Cat runs after him across the street without looking both ways.

** A far more problematic example would be Dr. Serizawa's death and how it contrasts with the ending of ''Film/Godzilla1954'', as well as how it contradicts it's themes and overall message. In the original film, both the titular monster and the oxygen destroyer were synonymous of the atom bomb, horrible things capable of mass destruction that should never have existed. Daisuke Serizawa, regretting his invention, uses it to kill the monster and himself for the sake of humanity. In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', the oxygen destroyer doesn't kill the monster. Ishiro Serizawa, in this version a survivor of the UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki, uses an ''ATOM BOMB'' to power up Godzilla.