An Afternoon Out

Since Jenn spends all of her days with Dee Dee and the majority of her evenings, I decided that today would be a good day for the wee one and I to have an adventure: climb on a bus and go to the movies. I was forgetting, of course, that I have enough trouble trying to find a single movie I would want to see, let alone one Dee Dee would too.

Past trips to the cinema have not left me begging for more: she was moderately interested by both Curious George and Over the Hedge for about half of their running time, then started to get restless and wanted to leave. Still, she was just barely two for the former and not much older for the latter, so I hoped she'd be more open to the experience now.

Not much playing for the kiddies these days, but we settled on Arthur and the Invisibles. True, the only good time I've ever had at a Luc Besson picture was when Jenn, some workmates and myself loudly ridiculed every single frame of The Messenger. But have you seen the reviews for that new Disney/Jesusco Narniaesque thing that I can't be bothered to remember the title of? Yikes.

So the pair of us bundled up and made our way up the hill to the bus stop. I walked, Dee Dee rode in a little sled she barely fits in anymore. It was damnably cold, with wind whipping snow into our faces, and Dee Dee suggested going back home before the bus pulled itself into view.

We got to the theatre, stocked up on popcorn and a soda (both of which she was looking forward to at least as much as the movie itself), and settled into our seats. It was only then that I remembered D. is in the "why?" phase so that every movie viewing at home is littered with requests to clarify plot points or character motivation. I braced myself, and explained to her that we had to be quiet, for the sake of those around us.

The movie... ehh. I was surprised at how pleasing I found the live action stuff, with Mia Farrow as grandma and the kid finding clues and secret compartments around his home. Then we get to the fantasy land and... well, it's all CGI and pretty charmless even by those standards. Lots of celebrity voices, with two standing out, illustrating the pluses (David Bowie, the only CGi character who really gets fleshed out, in no small part due to the voice performance) and minuses (Madonna, who manages the uptight bitch aspect of her character, but never convinces for a second when the character shows feeling) of such stunt casting.

After the movie, onto the bus again. Dee Dee at first didn't understand the notion of buses being on schedules and routes... they're just there to take us where we want to go, right? We got on about five minutes before the scheduled departure, and Deeds, impatient to go, called out "Drive the bus!" The other passengers laughed, but the bus driver didn't hear. Small blessings.

Back down the hill, on the sled again, and back into the apartment. Jenn asked D. how she liked the movie and got details of the popcorn, drink, bus ride, sled ride, the jellybeans I got her before we got on the bus, and generally everything but the movie. Sounded about right to me, and matched the parts of the day that I'll remember myself.