Saturday, July 05, 2008

Wall-E Meets My Kids

So I went to see Wall-E on my birthday with about eight of North Carolina's biggest Disney Geeks. I loved the movie and enjoyed the conversation afterward that verged on geeky, but was really more along the lines of pure appreciation. My only disappointment was the realization that my kids would most likely NOT like Wall-E, so I wouldn't be getting to enjoy it with them.

The themes in Wall-E are a bit too grown-up for a four- and two-year-old to really get. And although the lack of dialogue makes the movie more accessible and VERY beautiful, I was sure it simply would not capture the attention of my frenetic offspring.

As this past week went by, my friends began sharing their experiences with taking their children to see it... some my kids' ages, some a bit older. All advised me against taking the terrible twosome. I mean, they barely sat through Kung-Fu Panda, and that was full of action and silliness. Wall-E is far more subdued and ... I'll say it again ... beautiful, and the soundtrack is mostly that of Hello, Dolly! This is a great thing for ME... bringing together my Disney Geek and my Musical Theater Geek... but not necessarily a great thing for the kiddos.

So today, while I was in the shower, Chris asked Athena if she'd like to see Wall-E. Why yes, she declared. She would love that. So I shrugged. I mean... best case... I'd get to see the movie again. Worst case, I could run the kids around the lobby while Chris enjoyed the movie. So, I looked up movie times and off we went.

We armed ourselves with a large popcorn and cups for sharing. Both kids got lemonade. We figured that would hold them until at least half-way through the movie. But guess what!

They. Loved. It.

Both kids were engaged with the movie almost all the way through. Marcus wasn't as engaged, but he sat relatively still through about 90% of it... maybe 95%. Athena asked questions as the story progressed and was clearly VERY concerned for Wall-E's health and well-being.

This is terribly exciting to me. Perhaps it won't be true for every movie, but they have progressively gotten better and better about sitting still and watching the flick in question. The more we take them, the better it is. And with all the movies that are made for kids now, we are never really short on choices.

Well, except the trailer they showed the most interest in was that freaking Chihuahua movie. *sigh*

Ai, Chihuahua indeed.

6 comments:

Chris said...

Yeah, I'm not going to see the chihuahua movie. If they beg to go, you can take them.

Jamie said...

Thank G_d they did NOT show the Chihuahua movie trailer when we saw it. Whew.

Okay, I was one of the parents who poo-pooed you taking the kids because I *thought* Sofie was bored. But alas, after discussing with her she loved it, too. And during the movie kept asking appropriate questions...I'm just one of those people who HATE talking through movies!! It must be the librarian in me...ssshhhhhhhh!

I just need to get off my high horse and realize kids can be just as concerned about stuff as we are!!

Glad the kids enjoyed it.

Chris said...

I watched Spiderman 3 with Athena the other day (I hadn't seen it) and she kept asking me about things in the movie. She liked the sand man and didn't want Spiderman hurting him though.

Then she did her best Venom impersonation (tongue out and "bleh!") It was pretty funny.

eaf said...

Jamie - I think your advice was well-founded. No one was more surprised than me that my four-year-old even half-way "got it."

Chris - What about AGE APPROPRIATE do you not understand? I should have dragged you to that Wizard Rock concert with me. Sheesh.

Chris said...

Please. I'm more worried about you getting scared or disturbed from movies than her.

bigbrian-nc.com said...

So reading this post so many months later I gotta ask, did you take the kids to see Chihiahua?