Alcoholism as humour

I'm not one to censor everything, trying to be politically incorrect all the time, but somehow I think it's wrong to turn a real problem like alcoholism into a running joke in a family film. Perhaps that is how the character was defined all those decades ago, but it's one of those things (like the racial elements in certain Tintin stories that have been criticised after their publication) that should have been left behind in this adaptation.
They wouldn't dare use the 'African' characters from the books in a contemporary movie, so why did they decide that alcoholism could and should be used as humour?
And no, I'm not trolling, so please respond with honest, intelligent opinions - whether you agree with me or not.