We watched a lot of movies this weekend, mainly because Rebecca was determined for us to have at least one, but more preferably, fifty-eleven dozen family movie nights.
Friday night (no, you CAN'T bring the kitty in the house) was Hoodwinked. Nicely animated, there's a story somewhere in here of a bad guy who's trying to drive out all the bakery and goody shops in the forest, and the police are called after one particularly COPS-worthy interaction between four of the characters. Each one has a different viewpoint, and we get to go back and follow each one through the course of events and see where the misunderstandings take place before finally figuring out who the REAL bad guy is. Lots of sight gags, which the kids loved, some funny asides, but no real good reason for the story in the first place. Oh, and it's a musical. Great animation, some funny bits, no story. Eh. I liked it because we all watched it together.
Saturday night (no, you CAN'T bring the kitty in the house)--Yours, Mine and Ours, the remake with the handsome Quaid brother. Widowed Coast Guard admiral has eight kids, goes to Connecticut, meets up with former high school sweetheart who is widowed and has ten kids, marries her then they tell the kids. Hijinx ensue, along with lighthouse renovation. Kids hate each other, decide only way to get out of mess is to break up parents, finally manage it, decide they like each other after all, then have to get parents back together. As with all movies in the giant-family dramedy genre, there are ample scenes of small children run amok, things falling, food fights, spilling paint, and adults falling in water. Eh. I liked it because we all watched it together. The original version was somewhat better, in that it didn't resort to quite so much slapstickery, but even the original has never been on my list of "Gotta Watch it a Billion Times" movies. Best bet is to check out Helen Brandmeir Beardsley's 1965 autobiography Who Gets the Drumstick from your local library. Oddly enough, very little in the way of thrown food.
Sunday night (no, you CAN'T bring the kitty in the house)--The Perfect Man, the Duff-Locklear movie of last year in which Locklear is an emotionally disturbed baker of some sort who manages to have enough money to move her entire household around the entire country every few weeks when she decides she's ready to dump the guy she's with. Of the three movies Rebecca picked, my absolute least favorite due to the absolutely inane plotline and the fact that it has scrunch-shouldered Hilary Duff in it. Oldest squealed all the way through it. Figures. Not recommended unless you like being assaulted by stupidity or spending an hour and a half cringing. Heather Locklear looks okay, though.
AND THEN, yesterday we went to the theater and saw Over the Hedge, which includes two possums in the cast, the daddy version being voiced by William Shatner. It was pretty cute--little forest creatures (squirrel, porcupines, possums, skunk, tortoise--none of which actually hibernate) hibernate in a log during the winter and awake to see that they are now hemmed into a suburb that got built while they were asleep. Bruce Willis is trying to find and return a bunch of junk he stole from a bear so he won't get eaten, and enlists the other critters to help him steal stuff from the humans. Hijinx, once again, ensue. Great animation, lots of sight gags, pokes fun at various things liberals poke fun at, but overall worth seeing. And it includes an odd take on the old Pepé Le Pew cartoons. I'd give it 3 1/2 out of 5 curly possum tails.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 30, 2006 10:53 AMFor one of the few times this millennium I went to the movies. We saw that da Vinci code thing. It is sort of a suspense movies operating on a few timelines. Who done it now, who will do something next and who has been doing it since about 27 to 33 c.e.
I like Ron Howard’s storytelling style and the photography. I enjoyed the movie.
There is nothing in the movie that should shake the faith of a Christian. Remember it’s only fiction—well that’s what the priory wants you to believe.
Well, it won't shake anyone's faith who actually has faith, but if you are easily distracted by shiny things or conspiracy theories, and your Bible reading is limited to the cover, and your knowledge of history would make you a star on Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" feature, well, you probably could be led astray pretty quickly.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 30, 2006 12:41 PMThe funniest part of Over the Hedge? The hired gun exterminator IS my brother-in-law Mike. Looks like him, talks like him and is just as (in)competant as my BIL. The similarity was uncanny.
I too saw the Da Vinci Code this weekend. Decent story though completely over the spouse's comprehension level. It did not cause me to want to go out and riot, burn cars and call for the immediate beheading of Ron Howard or Tom Hanks.
Why is that? Apathy?
Posted by: Nate at May 30, 2006 12:58 PMWhy can't the kitty come in the house, Daddy?
Posted by: Grouchy Old Yorkie Lady at May 30, 2006 01:13 PMNate, I think that's called "having some sense."
And GOYL, tiny kitties are frightened by movies and it would be cruel to subject them to Hilary Duff.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 30, 2006 01:15 PM