The family that prays together stays together or was it the other way around? But the family that watches movies together has a lot of fun in the bargain!
For a very long time Red and I have abstained from taking MLM for any movies since we thought it might be too loud, over-stimulating et al. And the last person in the world that needs stimulation is my son!
Anyhoo, I'd been thinking that maybe Red and I were being too cautious with him and kind of things we opted to expose him to and the safest thing to do to start off on a new path would be to go to a movie.
The movie itself was a no-brainer. The child is OBSESSED with Chhota Bheem. And his friends. And his foes. The whole damn Green Gold merchandise! And with this having released recently we decided that the foray into the new frontier should be done without much delay.
But I WAS apprehensive. The sound systems being what they are in the multiplexes and Chhota Bheem and the shenanigans he's normally upto; the resulting noises were sure to be LOUD! And given MLM's proclivity for never letting the grass grow under his feet I wasn't sure if Red and I'd be chasing him down the aisles during the entire length of the movie either.
But your children have a way of surprising you. MLM fell asleep on the way to the multiplex and when he was awakened he was a bit cranky till he saw the huge images of the movie plastered all over the entrance. Suddenly he couldn't wait to shake off his grogginess and rush up the escalators to the hall. He did like a pro as if he'd been watching movies all his life.
But there's a bit of a naivete there that was quite endearing. The screen was the largest one he'd ever seen and the moment the ads came on he clapped and yelled "YAY". Seeing people in larger-than-life dimensions was good enough a start for him.
With the start of the movie he clapped his hands over his ears since it *was* pretty damn loud but he remembered his snacks quickly enough to take one hand and use it to sneak chips into his mouth while the other hand remained firmly clapped over an ear.
Eventually he got with the program. Cheered at the appropriate places, said " Oh NO" whenever the bad guys got away with something and once in his utter joy at seeing his hero do something fun he socked me right in the eye while he was waving his fists around! I was ruing the fact that I didn't have a handycam to record his expressions instead of gulping down my popcorn and watching the movie. His emotions were quick to surface and he held nothing back...joy, disappointment, exultation...everything was OUT THERE!
What I am QUITE proud of is his not getting frightened of the visuals that were definitely more intense that those he's ever seen. He took it in his stride and watched the scenes unfold with rapt attention.
We were one of the last people to leave, having stood around till the last credits rolled and the screen went dark.
The movie by itself was the best of the lot that the Chhota Bheem franchise has come up with so far. The characters are well-fleshed out, the locales authentically reproduced and the pace of the story never flags.
I was telling Red that we have another family activity to do together now that goes beyond getting KFC stuff from the drive-thru and going for long drives till the monkey conks off from sheer joy.
The only challenge that I anticipate is now there might be clamors for movies rather than the telly and that'd be a whole different kettle of fish altogether and a new series of blog posts too :)
But as far as it goes...this day's going into his memory book and in my memory bank for all time.
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