Give me a G!

We broke all the rules tonight. We stayed at the playground until after 6:30 pm. We heated up a bunch of random leftovers for dinner and popped a movie in the DVD. We set up shop on the living room floor and ate as a family in front of the TV. Oh my. The 7-year-old AND the almost 2-year-old staring at the television while they mindlessly shoved food in their mouths. Ugh. Call us parents of the year.

But...

Oh. My. Goodness. Guess what we watched?

An actual kid's movie.

Rated G.

And entertaining.

Can you believe it?

I have to publicly say that Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium was a refreshingly enjoyable movie experience. The big kid enjoyed the visuals, the play-on-words jokes, and the cool toys that he wished were real. The toddler was literally laughing out loud at the bright colors and funny toys, and the zebra. (Yes, there is a pet zebra. Just perfect.) And, lovely hubby and I were actually entertained. Not with inappropriate-for-kids-jokes that get littered throughout too many kids' movies just to keep the adults watching. That's a whole other rant of mine, as you can see here.

But this is the thing that does have me needing to rant and rave. This dear movie that was actually made for kids, in fact tanked at the box office. It got slammed by the critics. It was diminished, panned, and literally on a worst movies of the year list. COME ON, people! Have we as a society become so freakin jaded that we cannot even see a quality children's movie for what it is? This movie had a story, and one with messages of love, acceptance and belief. This movie had interesting characters, characters that we all came to care about, characters that were entertaining. There was no swearing. There were no sexual references. There were no moments that I worried that the big kid was being exposed to something inappropriate, and even better, there were no super-intense moments that so often provoke J to feel overwhelmed. (I'm sorry, but kids' movies too often have scenes that I think are just too scary, or too intense, or too suspenseful. And, for my child who struggles with emotional control, these can get to be too much.)

Simply put, it was a NICE movie that we could enjoy as a family. I do believe this is one that we will enjoy watching again. I am actually looking forward to future viewings as the toddler and the baby get older. In this all-too-often-cynical age, let me say that movies like this don't come along that often, and when they do, they should be treasured. If you have young children, or you know what, maybe even older children who have retained some of their innocence, I highly recommend enjoying this movie. Come on over, we'll watch it together.