This summer I’ve been utilizing my one on one time with my older son to take him to movies. Don’t worry, that’s not all we do, it would be a boring summer. We also frequent the parks and go roller skating. He’s had fun going to more movies in the last month than he’s been to in the last two years. He is now vaccinated and willing to wear a mask when the theater is more crowded. Hopefully my younger son will be vaccinated and mature enough to join us next year. Anyway, here are the movies I took my kid to see.
The Bob’s Burgers Movie
We kicked off the summer in bun-tastic style (Get it…cause Bob’s Burgers is all about those puns!) This was my son’s first PG13 movie in a theater and I think we picked a good one. Like the show, the movie is pretty tame in the violence, sex and language department, so great to take an 8 year old with you. Also like the show, most of the dirty jokes fly right over a kid’s head. The movie itself was fine, the plot was a little recycled from old seasons, but didn’t feel flat it the moment. The one thing that really separates the movie from the show is the choreography. I did not expect so much dancing (of course I expected the singing!) and it did not disappoint. I would love to see footage of what the animators were basing these dance scenes off of, especially the scene in the weird little carnie neighborhood. 3 1/2 out of 5 burgers. Could’ve used more of Tina’s signature awkwardness and sexy zombies.
Jurassic World Dominion
So when I was eight years old Jurassic Park came out to theaters. I was dying to see it, but my parents thought it would be too scary for me. Honestly, 8 year old me might have flipped out and panicked in the theater during the first t-rex attack, but I still hold a grudge to this day about the injustice of not seeing Jurassic Park in theaters as a child. Anway, here I am nearly 30 years later taking my own 8 year old kid to see Jurassic World Dominion.
To be critical, JWD was not great. A lot of scenes seemed clunky or unnecessary. At times the dinos looked very fake. Other times Chris Pratt had the range and charisma of a chipped triceratops toenail. However, at times it just felt like Jurassic Park fan fiction put on the big screen and the JP loving dork in me ate that shit up. There were a few terrifyingly enjoyable dino-attack scenes, and I was proud to see my son not afraid of them. If anything scared him, it was those giant locust swarms. Honestly, they kinda freaked me out too.
Jurassic World Dominion may not be great, but it was a real treat to take my kid to a big dinosaur movie while he’s still young enough to be into it.
Lightyear
Next, we traveled to infinity and beyond with Pixar’s newest film, Lightyear. This week, his father had the day off as well, so it was his first movie out with his father too since Toy Story 4. Besides embarrassing the poor boy as he tripped over people’s legs in the theater, I think it was a successful mission.
Now honestly, I was a probably more excited to see Lightyear than most moms hitting the theater with their kids. Buzz has easily become my favorite Disney character, so to give him an origin story, a new voice and hair… I was eager but so afraid to be let down. I was not disappointed. Confused at times, my suspension of disbelief hanging my a thread at one point, but not disappointed. Honestly, my fan theory since trailers came out was that Zurg was powered by BuyNLarge and we’d somehow get tied into the WALL-E universe. Spoiler alert, I was wrong. But it was still fun.
Thor: Love and Thunder
After taking a few weeks away from the movies, we took the kid to see his first big Marvel movie in theaters, Thor: Love and Thunder. There were some moments that I worried might be a little too scary for him (Christian Bale made a very creepy Marvel villain), but he reassured me it was not scary for him at all. We especially loved the moment when all the kids help fight, Thor style. When he got home he made himself a Mjolnir out of paper (he’s very into origami at the moment) and said it was the best movie he’s ever seen!
The Best Picture Project 