This past weekend, my family and I were trying to figure out what movie to go see. Since no one was taking my suggestions to go see the new Muppets movie seriously, I opened up the Fandango app (remember when you had to open a newspaper to find out what movies were playing?). This didn't help very much because my family (step-dad) and I tend to have different taste in movies. He prefers artistic, independent, foreign, Oscar-bait, make you think kind of movies. I prefer... a more commercial type of fare. (This is the girl who's seen all of the super hero movies that have come out this year... in the theater). They'd already seen J Edgar and the movies I wanted to see (Ghost Protocol, Sherlocke Holmes, War Horse) don't come out until later in December. Mom's suggestion of Happy Feet 2 was taken even less seriously then my Muppets suggestion, so we were kind of at a loss...until...while watching Modern Family on DVR we forgot to fastforward through one of the commercial breaks and heard about a sneak preview of We Bought a Zoo on Saturday night.
That settled it. I was all for seeing this movie - a nice family friendly good hopeful message type movie that we would get to see a month early (bonus!). I had my mom get the tickets online early (in case they sell out) and had us arrive at the theater 30 minutes before showtime. As the 2nd people to arrive in the theater, I realized that maybe I had overestimated the appeal this movie would have to the greater Jacksonville community. As more folks with little kids started to arrive, I started to worry just a bit. By family friendly, I had meant something along the lines of Blindside or Remember the Titans, but my step-dad took it to mean "kids" movie. (Sidenote: nothing against kids films, I just generally wait on Redbox or an international flight for those). As the pre-movie show and then previews started, I was increasingly worried that he was right and that this was a kids film and that my family (entirely comprised of adults 30 years of age and older) would bring this evening up to mock me at future Thanksgivings (Remember that time Jen made us get to the theater so early for that movie about talking zoo animals).
Well, rest assured, this movie did not have talking animals. In fact, there were a couple of times I wanted to ask the other parents in the room if they'd read anything about the movie (you know, since I knew so much before coming) or had just chosen a movie with animals in it. I would say this is definitely not a little kids movie. I quite enjoyed it, but even though it's only PG, it did have some language that I wouldn't want to expose any kids under 10 to. Most of the themes were rather more adult as well - finding a new job, dealing with the loss of a spouse, how to make a business work. There were some funny bits and I thought the cast was excellent, especially the girl who plays Matt Damon's daughter - adorable!! My mom really like Matt Damon's hair in the movie and my step-dad remained mum on Scarlett Johansson.
All in all, I think the movie was pretty much what I expected going into it. A great "family" film for the holidays. As previously mentioned, I think it would only be for more mature kids. There's a dad/teenage son fight that's pretty intense and I didn't particularly love the way that was done. But if you're looking for a family film with a lack of awkward moments (and that would definitely be me as the girl who suggested No Strings Attached for a family movie night, seriously, awkward much?), this should be just the ticket for you.
That settled it. I was all for seeing this movie - a nice family friendly good hopeful message type movie that we would get to see a month early (bonus!). I had my mom get the tickets online early (in case they sell out) and had us arrive at the theater 30 minutes before showtime. As the 2nd people to arrive in the theater, I realized that maybe I had overestimated the appeal this movie would have to the greater Jacksonville community. As more folks with little kids started to arrive, I started to worry just a bit. By family friendly, I had meant something along the lines of Blindside or Remember the Titans, but my step-dad took it to mean "kids" movie. (Sidenote: nothing against kids films, I just generally wait on Redbox or an international flight for those). As the pre-movie show and then previews started, I was increasingly worried that he was right and that this was a kids film and that my family (entirely comprised of adults 30 years of age and older) would bring this evening up to mock me at future Thanksgivings (Remember that time Jen made us get to the theater so early for that movie about talking zoo animals).
Well, rest assured, this movie did not have talking animals. In fact, there were a couple of times I wanted to ask the other parents in the room if they'd read anything about the movie (you know, since I knew so much before coming) or had just chosen a movie with animals in it. I would say this is definitely not a little kids movie. I quite enjoyed it, but even though it's only PG, it did have some language that I wouldn't want to expose any kids under 10 to. Most of the themes were rather more adult as well - finding a new job, dealing with the loss of a spouse, how to make a business work. There were some funny bits and I thought the cast was excellent, especially the girl who plays Matt Damon's daughter - adorable!! My mom really like Matt Damon's hair in the movie and my step-dad remained mum on Scarlett Johansson.
All in all, I think the movie was pretty much what I expected going into it. A great "family" film for the holidays. As previously mentioned, I think it would only be for more mature kids. There's a dad/teenage son fight that's pretty intense and I didn't particularly love the way that was done. But if you're looking for a family film with a lack of awkward moments (and that would definitely be me as the girl who suggested No Strings Attached for a family movie night, seriously, awkward much?), this should be just the ticket for you.
Hey- good to know!! I might see it.
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