let's go to the movies...

This past Tuesday night, I went to the theater with my family and watched "Over the Hedge" and "RV"... we ran into some friends while we were there, and they knew somebody who worked at the theater, so in between the two movies, we got to go upstairs where they have the projectors and all. It was so cool to be able to see how the films are played and where they are stored up there, etc. A projector bulb costs about $700 to replace... (just a little something I learned up there...)

I think I've seen more movies in the theater and/or drive-in this past year or so than probably in the last 3-4 years combined! Not that there is usually that much worth going to see..

Anyway, I wasn't sure at first about "Over the Hedge" because I don't go for Shrek, and it's by the same people. But it ended up being pretty good. There was stuff (in both "Over the Hedge" and "RV") that could ~ and should ~ have been left out, but they were still both good, and they had excellent messages, which is not something you can say about so many movies these days. "Over the Hedge" was all about this raccoon who at first takes advantage of the other forest animals, tricking them into helping him collect food to pay off a big bear because of RJ's (the raccoon) selfishness and greed. He got most of them obsessed with all the "bigger" & "better" stuff that he introduced them to, giving them the impression that the grass is greener on the other side of the hedge. It ends up eventually that they learn to trust their family, and they learn to be more content with what they have. And RJ learns the value of having a family and what loyalty means.

"RV" had Kristen Chenowith in it... I got to see her last year at a Women of Faith conference, so it was cool to see her in a movie now. It started out with this little girl playing puppets with her daddy and then telling him that she's never going to get married because she wants to always stay with him. Then it jumps forward several years to when she's 15 with a bad attitude. Her whole family is constantly fighting. Through a series of events, they end up renting an rv and driving together to Colorado... fighting and complaining the whole way. They meet this other family, who homeschools, and is at first portrayed as somewhat eccentric and they keep trying to run away from them. By the end of the movie, though, they have come to enjoy the homeschool family's company, they've learned to appreciate and love each other and actually get along, and (I love this!!)... the kids are saying, "can we be homeschooled??"! :) I love how both of these movies show the value of a family and how they don't put it down like so many do now.

At one point toward the end of "RV," the one lady is describing her marriage to Kristen's character and she says, "We just became sort of business associates in our marriage, you know? Like... 'Did the plumber come? Can you take Cassie to school?'" And I love the look on Kristen's face as she looks at her "husband" and shakes her head. She says, "No... No, I don't know what you mean." It is so beautiful how they didn't let the romance fade or become obsolete between them.