We chose to go to a local theatre/grill combo. You know, the kind where you order your meal and then eat it in the dark while the movie is showing? (note to self: certain foods are not approved for eating in the dark). After Brother Bear figured out the waiter-calling-gizmo, we finally ordered our food and sat back to enjoy the previews. Such fun!
And then, the movie began. And the balloon that was my date with my precious, oh-so-innocent, 5 year old Bear Cub started to lose air very quickly.
The animation was fantastic. I felt like I could reach out and pluck that old crochety bear's eyebrows myself. And little Russell, well, who wouldn't want to take him home? But in the first 10 minutes of the movie, we had already addressed infertility and old age/dying. I wasn't exactly thrilled when Brother Bear leaned over to me and said, "Mama Bear, did..she...die?" "Uh, yes sweetie, she..uh..yeah..did." "Why, Mama Bear?" "Um..well...you see, she was sick, and..uh..God didn't want her to be sick anymore, so..uh.. he decided she should be in Heaven." Oh, and don't forget the plot line about the dead-beat dad who constantly leaves his sweet son in a lurch.
Then the dogs arrived. I know, you are thinking, but the dog in the movie trailers is so cute. You are right. He is adorable. It's the other 150 snarling, menacing, blood hounds that are so awful. Brother Bear practically hid behind my arm every time they entered a scene. I asked him if he wanted to leave, and he said no. Those were some ferocious man-eating-dogs.
And if that wasn't enough, there was a suspense-thriller-ending that was the animated equivalent of Lethal Weapon. I'm talking swords, children and old people almost falling to their death, exploding planes (with evil dogs aboard), and lighting a house on fire. For those of you that know Brother Bear, he's a regular old Smokey The Bear Fire Ranger. He's terrified of fire. So, when the fire started, he began making this noise that I've never heard before. It was somewhere between a squeal and a scream and was accompanied by tears. I scooped him up, and let him hide his eyes, all the time explaining to him "this is a movie, it's not real, everything is going to be OK."
When the movie ended, I couldn't have been more happy. I realized that the lunch I'd just eaten was still sitting in my throat from all the stress of calming Brother Bear down. I was immediately upset with myself that I had mistakenly taken him to see a PG13 movie. When I checked though, I realized that it was indeed a PG movie. The reason for the PG rating? "Some peril and action". Darn tootin'! Guess I'm going to have to go "fuddy duddy" on the movies for a while. Only G ratings from now on. My blood pressure can't take it. Not to mention my sweet bear cub!!
The funny thing was, a few days later, he was telling a friend that he saw the movie and that it was great. ??? How quickly the mind repairs that damage.
Maybe for him. But not for me!
Next date with Mama Bear: clowns.
Hector took Samuel to see this for his 8th birthday, and within the first few minutes, Hector was crying and Samuel was covering his eyes. Hector came home and did a little online research, perhaps something we should have done beforehand. But hindsight is 20/20, right? The first review he pulled up said that Pixar wanted to keep the attention of both the parent and the child, by including topics both could easily identify with (similar to Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc.). The first sentence of the review said, "It took more than 65 years, but a Disney company has finally topped the death of Bambi’s mother on the pathos-and-childhood-trauma scale." That pretty much summed it up for Hector. Samuel's already asked when it's coming out on DVD...
ReplyDelete