I actually saw two movies in a 5-day period this past week.
The first was March of the Penguins, and it was the first movie we took the girls to go see (they have been to other movies, but they are of the kind for mothers where the infants are supposed to sleep through). I enjoyed it, and Elena watched it for the most part - the times that she didn't she practiced getting out of her seat. She stayed quite the whole time, though. Amanda stayed quiet, too, but that's because she slept through the second half of it on my lap.
The second was War of the Worlds. It was actually a good movie, but the first 3 minutes of it soured it for me...
Spoilers in the extended entry...
So the plot's the same as the original: aliens come in and kill as many Earthlings as possible, and then all just die because of some bacteria in the environment. The movie was well done: the effects were good and the story was engaging. I thought the acting was good, too.
Morgan Freeman narrates the introduction, which goes something like this.
For millions of years, Earth has been watched by an intelligence that far exceeds our own. They have been waiting, planning, plotting for their eventual attack.
OK, so a superior intelligence has been studying us for a long time, readying their attack. So I am prepared for a hopeless cause, where humans are completely outmatched, both in technology and tactically.
This is not what happens. The attack these "superior" aliens come up with is to zap people one by one with their death rays. Their ships float around, strafing the crowds of panicked people, extending snake-like appendages to navigate people's homes and root out the stragglers. These snake things appear to use only sight and sound to find people. A simple camouflaged trap door would foil them. And they've been studying us for millions of years and didn't realize we had bacteria?
It took me about half to movie to get over this. Once I did, I realized it was a pretty decent movie. But if the intro had said instead "these aliens found Earth and want to wipe us out, and they've got cool dessicating death rays" I would have been much more content.
Comments (1)
Rob, the kids and I saw the penguins also and I think we were all mesmerized. Those little guys are pretty tough. I wondered afterwards what percentage of mates actually have a chick that makes it back to the water. Anyway, it shows how determined nature can be.
Lori and I did not see War of the Worlds, but did finally see Star Wars III. I guess it met expectations and surpassed the previous two. Clark had seen all the others on video and is not happy that we thought this one was too violent for 7 year olds. He keeps asking me questions about details about the story and characters in it. I almost wouldn't mind him seeing it except he still tends to believe what he sees too seriously. I think special effects are just TOO convincing for the young audience.
Posted by Brian | September 6, 2005 4:36 PM
Posted on September 6, 2005 16:36