History Main / AnachronisticOrphanage

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

* PlayedWith in ''Film/AugustRush.'' The film is a 21st retelling of ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and relies a lot on HollywoodLaw to achieve its WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Evan, the 11-year-old protagonist, lives in a group home at the start of the film. This is treated as analogous to being in an orphanage, including the boys talking about their parents "coming back for them." In RealLife, group homes exist, but they're for kids who need a higher level of care; Evan's main issue is that he's socially awkward and very sheltered. It's never explained why he's in residential care over a private foster home. Or better yet, why he wasn't adopted in the first place, as it's revealed his grandfather forged adoption papers for him at birth to save his mother's burgeoning classical music career. It's also implied he's been in that group home since he was an infant, which isn't something that would happen to a healthy baby born in the 1990's.

* PlayedWith in ''Film/AugustRush.'' The film is a 21st retelling of ''Literature/OliverTwist,'' and relies a lot on HollywoodLaw to achieve its WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Evan, the 11-year-old protagonist, lives in a group home at the start of the film. This is treated as analogous to being in an orphanage, including the boys talking about their parents "coming back for them." In RealLife, group homes exist, but they're for kids who need a higher level of care; Evan's main issue is that he's socially awkward and very sheltered. It's never explained why he's in residential care over a private foster home. Or better yet, why he wasn't adopted in the first place, as it's revealed his grandfather forged adoption papers for him at birth to save his mother's burgeoning classical music career.

Some possible aspects that might play into this trope include (1) portraying a binary choice of orphanage or adoption (no foster care or any other possibility besides full adoption, even if options like foster care are emphasized in the real-world setting the story supposedly takes place in), (2) portray adoption as if it's just a matter of adoptive parents walking in and picking out a kid with minimal (if any) vetting or systems to protect the children's interest (i.e., as if it's as simple as adopting a pet from a shelter[[note]]Even many shelters have extensive vetting processes, which also are ignored in fiction[[/note]]), and/or (3) have the resident kids used for child labor.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/StuartLittle'', the titular mouse lives at a public orphanage in New York prior to being adopted by the human Little family.

* In ''Film/StuartLittle'', the titular mouse resides at a public orphanage in New York prior to being adopted by the human Little family.

* Halfway through the Hallmark movie ''Film/ARoyalChristmas'', the female protagonist visits one of these when venturing out into the city by herself.

* Halfway through the Hallmark movie ''A Royal Christmas'', the female protagonist visits one of these when venturing out into the city by herself.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', the three girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, grew up in an orphanage that appears to be staffed entirely by one person. When [[VillainProtagonist Gru]] adopts them, it doesn't seem to take more than an afternoon, including the background check.