We're going to the movies...

...and we're gonna have a birthday...(sing it to the tune of "We're Going to the Chapel") (it works really well).

J-man turned 5 on sunday. Sigh. He's getting soo big.
We celebrated on Saturday. Since we usually spend a certain amount of money on a gift, and I didn't arrive at that set amount - I decided that for his birthday we could go see a movie.

The Professor even offered to go. So we all went.
I looked up the times at a certain movie site I use...and found one that started at 11am.
Right on!
We arrived to find out that particular showing was in 3-D.

Well drats.
That meant glasses.
And a bit more in price.

we hashed it out a bit right there. The professor said the next showing would be better for us - and he was probably right (no glasses) but what would we do for an hour?

Hindsight says we should have found some food.

But we went with it anyway. AND blessing!!! -- The manager only charged us for two tickets!!! and we still got 6 pairs of glasses!! It was awesome!!

I stood in line and got popcorn and drinks. Meanwhile, the professor chased Mini-E around.
In a nutshell, let's just say that by the time we entered the theater, EVERYone in the lobby knew her first and middle names.

We got all settled in.
We anxiously awaited our movie to start.
But first we had to endure the coming attractions.

First up - coming attraction from Disney Naturefilm called "Earth". I have seen this commercial before. I just sat in total awe of The Creator as His Creation flashed on screen bigger than life. I cried.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. They were tears of wonder.
The film is, apparently, about 3 animal families through a year on earth.
As we sat there, I started to get emotional about the Creator creating this big Earth just for us...and looked from the animal families to my family, all in a row with their goofy 3D glasses perched on their faces (a bit early) and just about lost all composure.

Then came the clip for "Up". And I went to the other spectrum of emotions.
Mini-Me thought I'd completely lost it.
We are totally going to see that movie when it comes out.

Finally our attraction starts.
Monsters vs Aliens.
It's not a new concept.
As a tv announcer in the movie says, "Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in".

The main character in the movie is Susan. We meet her on her wedding day.
We also meet her mom, her future mother-in-law and her husband to be, Derek.
Derek, we figure out quickly, is vain and selfish. Why Susan couldn't see that before, is unbeknownst to us.

Susan is walking outside, just before her wedding ceremony, when a meteorite falls from the sky and, well, lands on her or near her - she's lucky to be alive.

Her mother finds her dazed and confused - and pulls her back into the church and cleans her up and sends her down the aisle to Derek who unveils a glowing bride. Not the good kind of glowing, either.

She's green.

And then she starts to GROW..and GROW...and GROW.

She soon bursts out of the church, but not quite out of her dress. That's good spandex, I'm guessing, in a PG rated cartoon. She's captured by a commando unit and whisked off to ....

For lack of another term - "Monster Jail".

Susan is a bit freaked. Who wouldn't be??
She's just a normal girl who's been attacked by flying objects and suddenly wakes up in weird clothes in a metal room.

We meet Dr. Cockroach, PHD., B.O.B, Link and a thing called Insectosaurus.
These are the monsters.

We also meet the General in charge of the prison - General W.R. Monger. (think about that a second, you'll get it.)

We find out later that the General has captured these monsters while they're on "rampages" - but if you look hard enough, you'll find that's all just a hoax. But when the Aliens attack the General suggests that we need the Monsters to fight.

If the "Monsters" fight - they'll win their freedom.

There is a lot of fighting.
Susan is scared, just because she's big, doesn't mean she knows how to fight.
But when she comes face to face with the big robot alien, her instinct kicks in and she finds out what she really can do.

In fact, after fighting the robot - she's completely thrilled that she could do what she just did.

I read a really good review for the movie over at Crosswalk.com that really sums up the movie well. We really enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed the humor.

The main theme was being yourself. Which is, granted, an over done theme -- but it's a classic theme. Susan was herself. She also realized that Derek was a jerk and when she had her opporunity to stay small, I mean, normal sized - or save her friends, she opted to grow again.

Insectosaurus gets blasted by the bad guy and lays down and apparently dies. We see him a few minutes later wrapped in gauzy stuff. That told ME that he was turning into a, um, giant, um -- I hoped it would be a butterfly. I was concerned that the scene would be a bit much for the kids - they didn't mind it a bit.

Matter of fact, this became important for the final rescue.

The comic relief came in the form of Bob, the brainless blog, -- who kept thinking he was everyone else. Especially when he thought he was Susan and had it out with Derek. Saying the things that Susan wanted to say, but was too nice.
But the dialogue was splendid through out the movie.
It has fights. It has aliens. Cloned aliens at that. We really enjoyed the smart-alecky computer on the alien ship.
I don't think there was a bad voice actor in the whole thing. Hugh Laurie Rocked as Dr. Cockroach and I was quite impressed with Reese Witherspoon as Susan. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from her.

The Professor and I enjoyed the over all movie. It was not too childish and not too grown up.
We were so glad we saw the movie in 3D, after all. I jumped at the first thing that moved into the "air".
I'm not sure J-man moved at all while the movie was going.
Mini-e realy didn't like it much, but she wouldn't keep her glasses on and the movie was really blurry without them. She was exceptionally good, though, for a bored 3 year old.

All in all it was a good birthday movie for us.
Good conquered evil. Something that many movies lately have been lacking.
For that, I am very grateful.