Recalling Our First Movie Theater Experience

The other day I mentioned that we watched Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! on dvd. What I did not mention was that Horton was the first movie we had taken Kai to see in a theater.

Kai was only four years old at the time and his attention span was really short. He could not stay still for long and he was prone to getting upset and loud quite often. We knew it was risky to go to a theater. But my wife, especially, wanted to give Kai the experience that other kids have.

There wasn’t much of a selection of kids’ movies playing at the time. Horton was really the only choice. (This is the full-length animated version featuring the voices of Jim Carey, Steve Carell and Carol Burnett.)

We got to the theater and purchased a big tub of popcorn. We knew that as long as we had popcorn, there was a chance that Kai would be content and watch the film nicely.

Although we did not get to the theater much before the published start time, with all the commercials and previews, we sat for about half an hour before the movie started. And in that time, Kai had had his fill of popcorn.

Just as the movie was to begin, he said that he was “all done,” which was how he told us that he wanted to go home back then.

I really did not want to leave without seeing any of the movie. So I urged Kai to be sit and watch. I was hoping that once he saw the beginning of the film, he would be hooked.

Well, that did not happen. The story started off slowly. He had no interest in it. And within ten minutes he was again saying he was “all done,” except this time he was much more adamant and loud. And so we left, and never saw the rest of the movie – until the other night.

When we watched it this time, Kai was hooked from the beginning, and engaged throughout. He even liked it well enough to watch his favorite parts a few more times over the past couple of days.

One of the heroes of the Horton story is Jojo, a young boy who does not speak until the end, when he saves Whoville from destruction by yelling “YOPP!” from the highest tower.

Jojo’s evolution reminds me a bit of how much Kai has changed over the past four years. In Kai’s case, the changes have happened gradually, and so we sometimes do not take note of them. But when we take a step back and compare, like with this experience of watching this movie, we see that his progress is akin to Jojo's yelling “YOPP!”

And that makes me smile as much as the movie’s happy ending did.

Introduction to Star Wars

My son received a few different Star Wars Legos for his birthday. But he still hadn’t seen any of the movies.

Up until now, I did not think it was worth watching the movie with him as his film preferences lean heavily toward animated features. But with many of his peers interested in Star Wars, and with his new Legos, we thought it was time to introduce it to him.

On our trip to the library on Saturday, we found Star Wars, A New Hope, the first film that came out 35 years ago. I have to admit that I was never a huge Star Wars fan, but I look back on the first two movies with fond nostalgia.

It had been years since I saw the original movie, so I looked forward to seeing it again. I wondered how Kai would like it, and my wife, too, for that matter, as she had never seen it before either.

Kai took interest when R2D2 and C-3PO came onscreen, not because they were cute, but because their names were letters and numbers. He got excited during the battle scenes. But he seemed bored during much of the other parts of the movie.

My wife liked it even less. She said that it was not her kind of movie.

I enjoyed it, but was surprised at how cheesy the special effects seemed versus how impressed I was by them when I saw the movie the first time. The acting and dialogue was also a lot more simplistic than I had remembered.

The next night, we watched Horton Hears a Who!

Now that was a film that all three of us really enjoyed. It was a good story, and had many funny moments for all of us.

And so, although Star Wars is a cultural icon, it doesn’t hold a candle to Dr. Seuss, at least in our house.

After seeing the reaction that Luke Skywalker got, I think it will be awhile before Harry Potter makes another appearance here.