Indiana Jones!!

WHAT FUN!!!! Well and truly, a good time was had by all!! As Rob wrote, we ordered our tickets from Fandango a month before the movie came out in theaters. We're big fans. Both kids (especially Rhys) LOVE Indiana Jones. I have such good memories of going and seeing Raiders with my Gramma when it was brand new - i was 10 way back then. Rhys became enamored of Indiana Jones before he was 2 and he believed that one of the trash collectors was Jones (i have the pictures to show it!). At all sorts of random times, he'll start humming the theme song. Usually when he's imagining with his little action figures. Irene ahs at various points not wanted to see it at all, and then wanted to see all of it.

Last weekend on SciFi, they had an Indiana Jones Marathon. The kids hadn't seen Temple of Doom (truly my least favorite by far - not because of Short Round, but because of Willie - gadzooks, Kate Capshaw was SO not up to the challenge - especially after Marion (oh how I wanted to be Marion). Anyway, they watched it and I talked Rhys through it when it got scary. At one point, Raiders was on again and Rob changed the channel. Rhys was heartbroken! So we set it up in the other room for him and he was happy as a clam.

So - yesterday! I picked Irene up from school early (that's right, i TOOK HER OUT OF SCHOOL to see the movie!) and we drove to the theater. The theater is in South Reno in the new Sierra Summit Mall (do we still get to call it new when it's been around for more than a year?). We got there a little more than 1 hour before the our showing started. We went in and I got a lovely coffee (and not hugely overpriced - maybe .75 more than if I'd bought my caramel macchiato at Starbucks -- i had a headache and caffeine was the answer) and the kids got REALIO TRULIO milkshakes!! They had Dryer's Ice Cream so you could choose your flavor. Irene got Strawberry Cheesecake, Rhys got Chocolate. I think there were about 4 scoops of ice cream in each one!! Well worth the 4.50 each. Once we were in line (or in lion, if you're Rhys), Gramps (FIL) got some popcorn. About that time, the movie before our showing got out - this one was the showing that many of Rob's co-workers had gone to see, so we got the immediate reviews from some friends. All reviews were positive. Rob got some coca-cola, I zoomed the kids to the restroom, and then we were in! It's been a LONG time since I've been to the movies (last one was for Irene's 1/2 birthday when we saw Shrek the Third. Before that? I have no idea) and they don't play music or show slides before the movie anymore. Now they show commercials. Not too over the top, so that was good. The funniest ones were the ones for Step-Brothers. It looked like it was just a billboard/slide...then Will Ferrell and John C Reilly moved and would talk to the audience.

Once the trailers started, it was LOUD. Rhys quickly covered his ears. The Batman trailer was SUPER loud and sort of scary and violent. I think we saw more scary violence during the trailers than in the entire movie. And really? LOUD. I feel like the Grannies when I say that, but truly, I think that even Jalen (who is deaf) could have heard it!

Then, finally, after a good 20 minutes of trailers, the LucasFilms logo came on and we were off and running! The movie really was fun. Was it as good as the first? No, of course not. Nothing can touch Raiders, but it was fun and I LOVED having Marion in the film again. There were lots of homages to previous Indy films (look for Marcus Brody's portrait, among other things that I don't want to spoil). There were parts where Rhys was practically inside of me, but I'd talk him through and he'd be fine. Gramps said that Irene was very very close to him throughout the movie. When it was over, we watched for friends in the credits. Rhys was sitting very quietly - sorting it all out in his head, I think.

When we left, he and Irene declared it FUN and gave it a thumbs up.

Is it a movie for all littles? Probably not. You know your child best. For mine, it was fine. We're not going to see Prince Caspian in the theater because we've heard that it's surprisingly violent (Irene just finished the book - which was NOT really violent - the skirmish takes about 1 chapter of the entire book - so it's disappointing to hear that it is heavy on the violence). I'd say that if your child has seen several of the Harry Potter movies, this would be fine. If your child is a fan of the previous Indiana Jones movies, then again, this will be just fine.

To see movie mom's review, you can go here. I don't agree with everything she says, but she's spot on with some of it. It *is* PG-13, but again, I know my kids and what they can and can't do. They did well with this one.

After the movie, we went to BJ's for dinner and it was scrumtrulescent. The kids fell asleep in the car and barely woke up when we arrived home. I carried Rhys and Rob carried Irene. No bad dreams for either of them.

So - if you enjoy Indiana Jones, I highly recommend it for a couple of hours of good fun. I am so happy that we got to share this with our kids. I'm still giddy, really.