My grandson and I headed off to the movie theater this afternoon to see "How To Train Your Dragon". In my habitual fashion, I was running late, so by the time we bought our tickets and made the stop at the concession stand, the movie had already started, but only by a few minutes. Sigh.... When we handed in our tickets, the ticket-taker said they were for the next showing of the movie, about two hours later!!! He said, "The movie has already started." I asked if we could go in anyway, and he said yes. Yay!
Of course, my grandson ran far up the stairs to a seat higher than I wanted to go, but I gamely followed. We crawled over the folks in the row and settled down. After a few minutes, GS says, "I left my candy on the counter! I'm going to get it." He jumped up, passed me, and knocked my bag of popcorn on the floor. I said, (in the middle of a movie for kids!) "Gotdammit, you spilled my popcorn!" Lord, forgive me. Children forgive me. On GS went crossing in front of the people in our row again, but not spilling their popcorn.
He came back with his candy, and we settled down to watch the movie. Suddenly we begin to see double, and I realized that 3D had kicked in, and we didn't have 3D glasses! Honestly, I thought about watching the movie in double vision, because we'd already made such a fuss, but GS wanted the 3D effect, which is quite understandable. I told him to go wherever to get us our glasses, and he crawled over me and the others in the row again and made a successful run for the 3D glasses. I guarded my half bag of popcorn which I had rescued from the floor, so he didn't knock it down again. We settled again to watch the rest of the movie with our 3D glasses without causing further disturbance. When I reached into my pocket to get a napkin, there was GS's bag of candy. I picked it up off the counter and forgot all about it, because the server distracted me by trying to sell me a new item, a cinnamon pretzel for $5.50, which I declined.
The movie was charming, enjoyable for both children and adults, with enough in the way of chases on the ground and in the air, close calls, fire-breathing, etc. for GS, and a literate and lovely message for all ages.
When the movie was over, I picked up our trash, except for the sea of popcorn at my feet, turned in the extra bag of candy at the concession stand, (I am honest to a fault!) and we were on our way home.
So. Should I give up taking grandchildren to the movies? We seem to have more than our share of adventures. We, no doubt, annoyed a few folks, but we didn't hurt anyone. I suppose we'll try again.
Isn't Craig Ferguson one of the voices in it? Or was it Robin Williams? I swear, I cannot remember a damn thing anymore!
ReplyDeleteSusan, Craig Ferguson is Gobber in the movie. Here's a link with a list of the voices and which characters they play.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely don't give up taking your grandson to the movies, Mimi. Audience members having those sorts of misadventures can quite often be better value than the film, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteAnd the value of doing things with your grandson is priceless.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about like par for the course from when my great niece and nephew were young. I would stay with them for a couple of weeks at a time while their parents were traveling, and we would do all kinds of things, such as movies, to keep occupied. We were a moving production number wherever we went, but that was just part of it and part of the wonderful memories. Keep on going. If it bothers anyone, they can just get over themselves. It's a kids' movie for heaven's sake. What do people expect?
ReplyDeleteIn spite of everything, the outing was fun, and I got a good laugh as I wrote the post. I hope that Joshua has good memories of the day.
ReplyDeleteBoocat, your "moving production number" is a wonderful description of our outings, too.