I have recently uncovered a troubling personal statistic: as Oscar time approaches, I have seen only one of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture. As a film lover, this is unacceptable.
On the other hand, I have seen three of the five films nominated for Best Animated Feature. The only obstacle to my seeing the other two – they were foreign films. Animation is one thing; subtitled animation is another thing altogether.
What this tells me is that I am the mother of a junior Roger Ebert and, as a result, Ive spent my year being Muppeted and Smurfed, 3-Ded through The Lion King and Tron and left scratching my head by any production for which Adam Sandler has a credit.
Its not all bad – Ive seen fighting robots, tail-less dolphins and one-armed surfers and have left the theater a bit happier because of it.
Movie-going has become a bit of a Mom-and-Nipper bonding experience and we dont get many of them. When I was in the throes of a hormonal/pregnancy meltdown and had just found out the child was a boy, I wailed to Husband, Ill get stuck dealing with homework and hygiene and youll get to have all the fun.
Dont laugh. Its true.
Nipper loves the outdoors. I love air-conditioning. He looks forward to a weekly swimming lesson. I dread swimsuit season. He doesnt take life particularly seriously. I count worry as a personal hobby (and a well-honed one at that).
I always seem to be the bearer of bad news: time for homework, time for speech therapy, time for a shower, time to go to bed. Be polite. Be quiet. Get the sucker stick out of your nose.
All the while, Husband packs up the bikes, kicks around the soccer ball in the yard, buys the pizza and imparts to my son his laissez-faire view of life, which includes hanging out on the couch and pushing bedtime back until the game is over.
But a few years back, Nipper became entranced by the idea of going to a movie. My initial response was to worry that he wouldnt be able to sit through two hours, hed be bothered by surround sound and that I wouldnt be able to find anything BOTH of us could agreed on. My tastes run more toward Silence of the Lambs and Goodfellas.
In other words, we had a challenge on our hands.
In the months that followed, I learned several valuable lessons: the early matinee is the cheapest, movie gift certificates can be purchased by all family members at Christmas and that it is possible to sit through a movie with no violence, sex, bad language or adult content and still emerge happy and refreshed.
Ive even come up with an alternate to the high price of concession stand items but Im not telling.
And the Nipper is learning movie theater etiquette and is finding that sitting still and being quiet has its upside.
So, sure, Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Mr. Poppers Penquins didnt get any love from the Academy – but they get two thumbs up from the Nipper and Me.
