Movie nights...

Our neighbor, Gaye Foote, brought back some DVDs for us from her recent visit to the States. We got The Simpsons Movie, Shrek the Third, and Underdog. So for three nights in a row we had a family movie night. This is usually a fairly rare event and we have certainly never done three nights in a row.

Noah picked the order of the movies, and of course he picked the Simpsons first (for Thursday night), even though that was the only of the three movies we have seen. It was funny and I picked up quite a few gags I hadn't noticed the first time in the theatre.

Friday night was Shrek the Third. I loved the first two Shrek movies, but this one not so much (though Kathy thought it was much better than the second). I thought it just ambled along without much of a plot. Also, did anyone else notice that Shrek has gone from a solid green to kind of a pale yellow? Noah liked it.

Tonight was Underdog. I wasn't even aware that this movie was coming out, mostly because it doesn't even open here in Europe until next month. I had no idea what to expect, although I had assumed that it would be a completely computer generated movie like Shrek or Toy Story. I was a little disappointed that it was live action with humans (if Jim Belushi qualifies as human) and a lot of CGI. I didn't care for it, but I doubt 49 year old males were the demographic the movie was shooting for. Noah loved it.

The movie did remind me of the old cartoon. I used to watch it at home during lunch (yes, I walked from school to home every day to have lunch). I never thought of Underdog as a great cartoon in the same league as Rocky and Bullwinkle or Johnny Quest, but it was OK. I had forgotten about the speaking in rhyme, Sweet Polly Purebred and Cad.

So, Noah decided that the Simpsons and Underdog were tied as his favorite, with Shrek not far behind.

Movie nights are a great family activity and I relish them while I can. It won't be many years before the last thing Noah will want to do is spend an evening with his parents watching a movie.