My wife and I took our son to his first full-length movie. On Saturday, we saw the movie "Cars," the computer-generated animated feature from Disney and Pixar. I believe it’s also the first animated film my wife has seen. We all enjoyed the film. I enjoyed "The Incredibles" a little more than "Cars," but "Cars" is also a very good movie. My wife grew up in China and had limited exposure to animated features, and she never developed an interest in animation until she became a mother. Our son, well, he was just too young to watch movies at the cimena. He’s been watching videos at home and has his favorites, including "Thomas the Tank Engine," "Bob the Builder," and "The Wiggles."
Some of the full-length animated features my son has watched have been too scary at times. Call it the "Bambi Syndrome"–one of the first scenes in the beloved classic show Bambi’s mother dying from a hunter’s bullet. "Shrek," "Brother Bear," "Chicken Little," and "The Lion King" all have scenes that frighten small children. "Madagascar" was passable. Most of these scenes include the villian–the evil vermin out to get the protagonist. "Cars" was a joy because there were no villians other than an obnoxious race car named "Chick Hicks" with a penchant to run his competitors off the racetrack. Other than that, it was eye candy for a young lad such as my son. My son sat through the entire movie with his eyes riveted to the screen, chomping on popcorn as if Alfred Hitchcock had directed the film. He didn’t ask to go to the restroom or wander the aisles. He didn’t get out of his seat. He sat in the theater seat, his legs dangling down, engrossed in the movie. I had fun watching him watch the movie. He had such a good experience that he is now a "Cars" convert. Left unchecked, his room may soon be filled with "Cars" memorabilia. As it is, we’ll probably order a couple of "Cars" movie posters, frame them, and put them in his room. Then he can relive his "Cars" experience virtually every day.
