Forever Family

Yes, the world needs a great big bear hug.  You know the kind, where the breath is nearly squeezed out of you and your toes lose contact with the ground. 

I have reached this conclusion because that is the only explanation why Paul Blart: Mall Cop has owned the box office for so long.  Did you know that this January ‘09 was the highest grossing January ever?  And guess what movie was # 1 for most of those weeks.

This concerned me greatly for a while.  I thought maybe every one had gone cuckoo, kinda like that Blagojevich character.  Then is occurred to me that this was a sign.  People are reaching out for some light entertainment.  The general mood is downright depressing, and what better medicine is there for that than a good laugh? 

So if you paid money to see this movie, I forgive you.  It’s ok, you just needed a good chuckle, and 2 hours to escape from reality.  <hugs>

Don’t feel dirty.  You didn’t do anything wrong.  

I love movies.  I’d rather sit down and watch a movie than almost anything else.  I was excited when bringing home Kiddo, at the prospect of sharing movies with him I enjoyed as a kid.   

This has actually proved to be a little harder than I first thought.  For starters, there is the whole age appropriate thing.  Watching things from a parent’s perspective, I’m surprised at how much violence there is in some kids movies.  I’m not quite as anal about that as I should be, but some of these things are nothing but rock’em, sock’em, go out and kick some butt movies.  Then there’s others that are just…well…too soft.  Lots of singing and princesses in pretty dresses, but nothing that holds the attention of my son.  

You should have seen the look on my son’s face the first time I put in the Little Mermaid.  Ariel started singing, and Kiddo just looked at me like “seriously, Mama?”  He eventually got into it, but only because of Flounder and Sebastian.  

I don’t really like to park my kid in front of the TV and leave him to stare by himself.  But that makes it very difficult to find movies I can enjoy with him.   

Fortunately, I have had good luck with all of the Pixar movies.  Cars is definitely his favorite, but he enjoys all of them.  Ok, I confess…so do I.  I’m always down with popping in Finding Nemo or Bug’s Life .

Fantasia was one of my favs as a kid, and I’m happy that my son seems to enjoy it, too.  The great thing about Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 is you can watch chapters as stand-alones.  I wish you could have heard my son laugh when the little baby pegasus horse tries to fly.  That’s the sound of pure joy.

I also recently discovered a fun movie on On Demand.  Surf’s Up is on there now for free for Comcast subscribers.  My son thought it was pretty righteous, and Hubby and I got a few laughs out of it, too.  I love the mock-u-mentary style movies that Christopher Guest does with genius, but it works well in a kids’ movie, too.  The little blurbs from the baby penguins are the best.  There’s no violence, it’s relevant to today’s kids, and a warm fuzzy feel good all around.  You gotta love it when the little guy comes out on top, even if he doesn’t win first place.   

So do what ever you need to do to find your smile.  It’s important to remember that even during these dismal times, our kids don’t necessarily understand what’s going on.  If it takes a Kevin James movie to bring a smile to Mommy and Daddy’s face, then by George, watch the damn movie.  

Here.  You like slapstick comedy?  Perhaps this will help.  This is classic, from the master himself.

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