The last two films we went to see were Mr Popper's Penguins and The Smurfs. Out of the two, I have to say I enjoyed Mr Popper's Penguins the most. We had fun trying to speak alliteratively (is that a word?) using our initials and we discussed (again) the treatment of animals and how realstically you could keep 6 penguins in a flat. We also discussed which bits we thought were real penguin action and which bits were computer generated. There was a really sweet moment during the film when all the children in the audience spontaneously started clapping when one of the penguins got out of a bit of a tight spot. They also applauded at the end. I'm not a big Jim Carey fan but I enjoyed it and so did my children, more to the point. It has a lovely happy ending where family relationships take precedence over ambition and greed.
The Smurfs, on the other hand, made me feel dizzy. Parts of the film seemed to move too fast in a spin of little blue men. I found the human characters to be a bit bland for the main part, although Gorgomel had one or two humourous moments. It's definitely a children's film with little in it to appeal to adults - or at least to me :0) Maybe I'd just been spoilt by the other films we'd seen....
On the way back, I asked the kids which film they would choose to buy if they could buy any of the 6 we'd seen for NSFW. The Girl chose Gnomeo and Juliet and Boykin chose The Smurfs. They found it more difficult to decide which one they would choose to leave out. In fact, The Girl couldn't choose at all and Boykin chose Arrietty. Turns out he's not keen on any of the Japanese films they've got.I'd either choose to buy Gnomeo and Juliet or (seeing as how The Girl's already chosen it and we don't need 2 copies pf the same film) Arrietty. The one I'd leave out would be The Smurf's. Definitely not my cup of tea.
It's been a good week and a half and we're all looking forward to next year :0)
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