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Vacation 2006

August 10, 2006

Ok, so I don't know if I should even call it a "vacation" but honestly, that is what it was. After we were married in March and we went to Hawaii we really didn't have any money for vacation this summer, so we decided to drive 6 hours to Louisville to stay with Kendall's grandparents for a several days. This was a practically free vacation since we didn't have to pay for a place to stay and we had delicious home cooked meals day after day. In fact, it seemed like the only thing we did all week was eat. Every time we were in the middle of a meal we would be eating while planning the next meal that came only a few hours later. We also were able to see some movies, play some new games, and we spent some time with Kendall's aunt and uncle in KY. It was a good time.

The first movie we saw was Barnyard. We had actually gone to the theater to see Monster House. Unfortunately we had checked the time for the wrong movie theater and by the time we got there the show had already started 30 minutes earlier. Since we already knew that Talladega Nights was a big pile of trash we decided to see Barnyard at the last minute. As it turns out, I'm glad we did.

I thought this movie was hilarious. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as my wife did, but it was definitely worth the price of a movie ticket. At first the concept of the movie bothered me and so I approached it with the idea that I wouldn't like it. I was also a bit dismayed by the fact that there are male cows in the film. Hello, there are no male cows! I would have to say that I thought that was not the best of ideas. However, once I got over that silly stuff, I really enjoyed it.

There are a few scenes that I would say are not kid oriented. Including the scary coyote scenes, stealing cars, joy riding, drinking, partying, and so on. Not sure that those are good themes for children, or adults for that matter. The idea behind it was that these are things that teenagers do and while it is funny for cows and barnyard animals, it isn't so funny in real life.

All in all I would give Barnyard a B- . It seems that many others would disagree with me though. I've seen it as a C and below on other websites and on EW lots of commenters bash the movie. Don't listen to them, go see it for yourself... you might like it.

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The other movie we went to see was Monster House. This movie was given an A- by Entertainment Weekly and by Christopher at WIT. I have heard several other good reviews so I was actually looking forward to seeing it. As it turns out, I was disappointed with this movie. I thought the animation was excellent, and it was entertaining for sure. I also love dark movies, and it was certainly dark. But the thing that disappointed me the most was the story line. I won't spoil it for others that might go see the movie, but other than the suspense, animation, and dark or 'spooky' nature of the movie, at the end I was left with a feeling of blah.

There were so many things that I enjoyed about the movie, that it becomes hard to explain why I ended up being disappointed, but for me there are some things that can ruin a whole film. For me, the story line about the house was not what I would have liked for it to have been. I should also point out that this is certainly not a film I would take a small child to. Although in today's world of technology our media-aholic children might not even flinch at the sight of the film. I would like to think that it would be too scary for small children, and I for one would not take my own children to see it (if I had any). I think, all in all, this is a one time watcher for me and I wish I would have just waited to rent it for $1 at the RedBox. I give it a C+ . **Update: For Christopher I will upgrade to a B+, but no more than that.

I also played a game that I had never played before. I'll talk about that later. For now, I've gotta go!

Comments

Posted by: Michael Morgan
August 10, 2006 06:10 PM

I enjoyed Monster House. I would have given it a b-.

Posted by: Christopher
August 10, 2006 10:15 PM

You missed the mark with Monster House. TOTALLY. Monster House is more about the direction which was stunning. Better than Cars. The story is really secondary, but I liked it too. They had fun with the red herrings. Comments at WIT?!?!?

Posted by: kendallc
August 11, 2006 03:43 PM

i haven't seen the movie yet, but in magazines i have read things like "if it were not a cartoon it would be PG-13". and my 3 yr old cousin ended up making his parents leave 15 minutes in2 the movie! and this is the kind of kid who is mellow, the kind of kid that doesn't mind watching movies.....these things make you wonder-how do you define this movie???

Posted by: Pressed
August 11, 2006 07:14 PM

Well Christopher, you know how I am. One little thing that bothers me and I just can't get over it... Maybe I will re-watch the movie when it comes out on DVD just to see if I enjoy it more the second time without being so narrow-minded.