Children's Movie Weekend

I've been trying to write this post since Sunday. Not sure why I'm having problems with it.

I spent the weekend reading and watching movies and doing very little else. It was blissful. I read three books this weekend, including a new Christopher Moore novel. I spent all day yesterday curled up on the couch. I drank numerous pots of coffee and wasted my days with words and moving pictures. It was a great weekend.

My movie taste lately has run to the juvenile. If it's not animated or geared towards the 10 and under set, I'm not interested. So this weekend I plugged in my earphones, curled up with my laptop, and watched three different kids movies. One animated, one children's classic, and one new classic.

The animated film was Flushed Away, a collaboration between Dreamworks and Aardman Studios. I'm a huge fan of Aardman, so I'd been excited to get a chance to watch it. The film follows a snobby spoiled fancy rat (played by Hugh Jackman) who gets flushed down the toilet and ends up in the rat world below. There he must help a ship's captain retrieve a jewel of hers that he helped hand over to the frog overlord of the Sewers. When the jewel proves to be a fake, the two rats set off to return Hugh Jackman's character home and replace it with a real one. All while being pursued by the frog and his henchmen. I've seen plenty of Aardman films and own my fair share. Sadly this one won't be joining my shelves. It was a decent movie with a couple good scenes but nothing that stood out for me. The animation was fun (it always is with Aardman) but it missed the sophistication of Wallace and Gromit or the witty writing of a Chicken Run. Not my favorite.

The second film was one I haven't seen in well over a decade. When I was a kid I loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the movie based on the Ian Fleming novel about a car with a mind of its own. I love Dick Van Dyke's performance, I loved the crazy inventions, I loved the silly story, and I loved the car. I remember being terrified by the Child Catcher, although I don't remember understanding the Vulgarian society. I didn't understand how much of a tyrant the Baron was. Watching the film again this weekend I notice how many songs the film had. I hadn't remembered all of them. Although the ones I did remember are the ones I'm still humming today. I was just as impressed with how sweet the film was. There was a lot of humor but a lot of tenderness as well. A fun film that I'd somehow managed to ignore for almost 20 years.

But the winner for the weekend was a new film that will quickly become a favorite. I watched Nanny McPhee on Saturday and was instantly charmed by the film. The story focuses on seven incredibly naughty children who finally meet their match when Nanny McPhee shows up to whip them into shape. She's hideous, she's unconventional, and she's magic. She teaches the kids lessons by giving them exactly what they want, only more than they want. Emma Thompson plays Nanny McPhee perfectly. She starts the role hideous and strict, and slowly grows more beautiful and more likable as the children become more well behaved. But the best part for me was watching the children grow. They start out as selfish uncontrollable brats with a distant father; and gradually the family becomes more caring and loving, both the kids and the father. The movie had magic, had humor, and had heart. One of my new favorite kid's movies. Well worth a watch.

Play Hooky

This will be quick. I'm playing hooky from work today. Okay well technically I'm on vacation but I have a gripe to share. Jeff and I both took the day off with the idea that we would catch an afternoon baseball game. Neither of us have ever been to one and it just seemed the epitomey of luxury. To spend an afternoon sitting at the baseball diamond, eating peanuts, drinking beer, while our coworkers sat in tiny dark cubicles. Delicious. 

So we took the day off. Got up for an appointment at school but then went out for a late breakfast. Puttered around the house until about 12:20. Then we headed downtown to the park. We were a couple blocks away when we noticed something abnormal. School buses. Tons of school buses. School buses lining every curve. I told Jeff that they were probably going to the Science Center. That would make a good field trip. "please be going to the science center!!!" But alas no such luck. They were all at the ballpark. When did we decide that a baseball game was a good field trip. I never got to go when I was a kid. What exactly do kids "learn" at a baseball game on a Monday afternoon. And why did they have to pick this day, of all days, to go. Grrrr. 

Jeff and I turned around, tails between our legs, and headed home. We'll find some other way to spend a Monday afternoon than with several thousand children who have access to large quantities of sugar. I'm sad about the game but I'm not crazy. Grrr. 

Sorry...just had to vent.

Giving them back at the end of the evening

So I'm childfree. Not to be confused with childless. There is actually a difference. Childless people are hoping to one day have children. They feel a lack of something because of their childless status. I am not that way. Now I'll start with the standard caution. Don't assume that because I don't want kids of my own that I don't enjoy children. I have been known to play for hours with friends kids, nieces and nephews, and in this case cousin's kids. But I don't enjoy the responsibility of kids or the worry that goes with it. I will spend hours playing with your child but don't ask me to discipline it or take care of it. My favorite part is handing it back at the end of the night.

My family has been really good about my childfree status. My entire extended family knows and they support Jeff and I. I have only been told once that I would regret this decision and that was by one of my cousins. She was almost 40 and desperate for a child. So she met a man and had one. And that brings you up to this recent funeral in Chicago. And my story.

My cousin arrived at the funeral, talked for a little and then went to pick up her 3 year old. Now this kid is a terror. I redefined my definition of hellion after meeting this kid. Even my sister was impressed with his level of mischief. He does the exact opposite of whatever anyone tells him. And his mother does nothing to discipline him. NOTHING. After arriving with her child she informed me and my sisters that she had a doctors appt to go to and asked if we would watch the little boy. What I wanted to say was that I would rather poke my eyes out with hot pokers but what came out of my sister's mouth was "Of course". Of course we would watch him while she went to her OB appointment. I can't even imagine how this woman is going to handle two.

Now we're in a funeral parlor, on a busy street. No option to take him outside. Instead he ran up and down the halls until the funeral director asked us to keep him under control. No amount of scolding, holding, or picking up would deter him. He's not my child so I don't feel comfortable really disciplining him. At one point my sister and I sat in the hallway, in dress clothes, and blocked his access to the hallway. I was so glad that we were the only funeral going on when he started screaming about wanting to get by.

After two hours of chasing, holding, squirming, and screaming, I was done. I hid in the bathroom for a bit just to get a bit of quiet. My sisters took him like a champ. My older sister had even gotten him to mind a little bit. He would no longer run, he just didn't stay in one place. And walked deliberately to show that he wasn't running. Then his cousins showed up and now we had three. All hell broke loose. They were of course left to us sisters since we already had the one.

At the end of the night I was exhausted. I have to admit I had several beers that night at the hotel. I never really got to grieve with all the running back and forth and I was reminded of why I don't want children. They are fun for a while, great to play with, and wonderful to hand back at the end of the night.