Average Jane Goes to the Movies

I saw "The Incredibles" last night and it was awesome!  It’s a never-a-dull-moment superhero adventure with realistic family interactions, just the right touch of humor and the most impressive CGI to date.  Sometimes the animation was almost distracting (the hair rendering was fantastic!), but the movie’s pacing doesn’t allow viewers much time to stop and ponder between interesting happenings.

My husband and I agreed that we’d gladly see it again and that it was the best movie of any kind that we’d seen in a long time.  So don’t hold back if you’re kidless – it’s definitely worth seeing!

Next on my movie-watching agenda is the Spongebob Squarepants movie, which I will see with a child (my niece) and my sister.  I actually like Spongebob on TV, so I’m sure that his world will be that much more entertaining on the big screen with a pop soundtrack and David Hasselhoff.  I doubt there will ever be an Aquateen Hunger Force movie, so I have to take what I can get in the TV-to-film cartoon transition department.

Yesterday my sister and I had a thorough discussion of the DVDs my four-year-old niece might like for Christmas.  She wants "Shrek" and "Shrek II" – naturally.  She watches "Shrek" every time she comes to our house because it’s the only kids’ movie we have besides "A Bug’s Life" (which she watches almost every time she comes to our house).  Then there are the two recent Disney DVD releases, "Aladdin," which I saw at the theater twice before my niece was even born (can you tell I’m resisting the whole "growing up" thing?) and "Mulan," which I only saw once but recall as being pretty good.  I should just buy all of the DVDs for myself and expand my kid-friendly collection at home, but my niece doesn’t stay over that often.

I’m gearing up for the holiday film rush, too.  I’ll probably see the new Bridget Jones movie with the gals, even though I didn’t like the book very much and squinty-eyed Renee Zellweger is not one of my faves.  I can skip "Christmas With the Kranks" because I read "Skipping Christmas" and wasn’t that impressed.

Two of last year’s holiday movies are worth the DVD purchase:  "Elf" for its relative innocence and "Bad Santa" for its complete lack thereof.  With "Christmas Vacation" in the middle, you have a perfect schizoid holiday trifecta.  We’ll watch them on the big-screen TV at my house.  You name the date…