Sunday, July 29, 2012

Movie Adventure - Curious George (2006) & Madagascar 3:Europe's Most Wanted

I'll address the first quest that's going through your mind once you read the title.  Aside from the animals in the main characters, how are those two movies related?  An interesting story, that's how.

For the past few weeks, I've been taking my daughters to the Family Favourites screenings at South Edmonton Common.  It's quite the bargain for a classic movie on a Saturday morning.  In August they will be getting into the more modern movies, but it was still a thrill to watch Hook with my girls on the big screen.  They thought otherwise of course, but I've come to accept that.  However, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie was a huge hit!  They might have been a little tired from the previous evening when we went to the outdoor neighbourhood screening of Thor put on by the town, but I'm just saying that because my youngest slept through most of the movie.

In any case, Curious George (2006) was today's Family Favourite and right off the bat, both my girls were having a great time.  The opening scene with George playing, painting, and making a monkey's amount of mischief was a lot of fun to watch.  Then the scene changed to the museum where we meet Ted, played by Will Ferrel.  At this point, a huge problem is brought to light, or rather, to the ear.  You could barely hear the dialogue.  Previously, there was a song playing over all the action, and George doesn't talk anyway, so no one really noticed.  A few people got up and address the problem to the staff who tried to fix the problem.  After forty-five minutes, the screen went black and house lights came up.  At the front of the crowd was the head theatre manager who explained there was a problem with the amplifier and they would have to shut down and reset the whole system.  The entire process would take about an hour.  In compensation, they gave us complementary passes to a full priced movie for each ticket we bought.  


Making the most of this we went and got some lunch at Chuck E. Cheese (BLAARRGGH!) and then returned for the 12:35 screening of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.  My oldest had been bothering me for some time to see it, and now that the opportunity had presented itself, I would have to consider myself a fool not to take advantage of it.


And what a movie it was!  While it was not of the same caliber of humour as compared to Curious George, it held up of the style and pacing set in the two previous Madagascar movies.  I have also set my expectations for Dreamworks movies rather low, and therefore I am usually pleased with the results.


The key to enjoying any kind of movie is have the right kind of mindset and audience.  In the case of Dreamworks movies, they are best enjoyed with the mindset of going in for a silly and fun time while enjoying some time with kids.  Or kids at heart.  Madagascar 3 has a couple scary parts - one joke that is funnier if you enjoy scary movies - but in all it's quite the fun(ny) romp with the Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria.  


Oh, and my oldest wants to buy them both.


I second her opinion.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From a picture on Google I got linked to an earlier post of yours. You mentioned Star Warners, and if you have it, please can you find a way to put it on the internet? It's a VERY rare find, and I only can find one video...the first 10 minutes only though! Please? Pwitty pwease?

Shirley @ My Bookshelf said...

Good for you! You were able to make a full day outing out of it! I'm sure your children really enjoyed it!