He wanted his kids to have a genuine VHS experience, but that was needlessly cruel.

1. If you stop the movie instead of pausing it, the player will take the tape off the read head and you can rewind faster.
2. You always fast forward through the previews (and only switch to regular speed if there is a trailer that everyone really wants to see).
3. The film likely had closed captioning, you just have to turn it on in the settings.
4. The fact that the movie started from the middle shows that the parents are the type of inconsiderate asshole who does not rewind movies after watching.