Last night my girl and I had an impromptu trip to the movies to see the movie Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. We don't go to the movies much; we realized this was our first theater trip since we moved here, so it's been over a year. The last theater movie we saw in Oregon was Amazing Grace. I'd like to have gone to see Prince Caspian but at this point I guess we'll get in the queue at the library and watch it at home. I remember the treat of going to the movies as a kid. It was a thrill, except when Dad took us to war movies at the drivein. I swear we went to Bridge on the River Kwai before I was 10 years old. Guess it was cheaper than a babysitter, especially since we brought our own snacks. So I do like to take the kids occasionally, but it is not a huge priority for us right now.
Anyway, I am not a big fan of the American Girl empire (y'know, I just don't tend to love merchandising empires), though my girl has read all the books at least once. But I'd read good reviews and we had the evening to ourselves so off we went.
I was so pleasantly surprised. It was a good movie. Set during the Great Depression, it seemed true enough to me, from what I do know about that time period. I should know more - my parents were in their late teens at that time, and it had a lifelong effect on both of them. I know I will learn more in the next few months when we finally get to that point in our history studies. The story was mostly believable though as one might expect things get wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. The characters really made the movie: Stanley Tucci as a magician and Joan Cusack as the mobile librarian are a hoot. It was very heart-warming too, as American Girl stories must be.
But, I'd see it again. I might even buy the dvd which is saying a lot, as we buy very few movies. It's a girl movie but I think my boy would like it too. There are some funny boys in it, and, amazingly, a car chase and a few minor crashes! Oh, and a monkey. I hate monkeys, but the kids always like them.
3 comments:
We went last week and I was really happy with it. Interestingly, in the theatre (matinee, so it was sparse) was our group (about 12 girls, 2 boys, and moms), 2 more mom/daughter sets, and about a dozen Depression-era seniors. I will probably buy the DVD just so that we can watch it with my mom, who would have been 7 in 1934.
I'm so glad you like it after I said I liked it on my blog. I do plan to buy it, I think my son will like it too. I don't know much about the time period myself, but I do like the way it sparked an interest in my daughter to find out more.
Monkeys — got to have monkeys.
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