Monday, September 13, 2010

View, haloo! Oh yes, definitely, view haloo.

Ya ever get alllll sorts of excited to introduce your kids to one of your allllll time favorite movies only to have it fall flat?  I have been so, so excited to have the kids watch Mary Poppins.  When we had the flood, our VCR bit the dust.  Which was kind of a suck since we had so many darn video tapes.  One of which was Mary Poppins.  Wonderboy found the box to the video and had been asking to see it.  Yes!

I had put Netflix on hold this summer because we were just too busy to be watching movies on a regular basis.  But it kicked back in on Sept 1 and I was all sorts of pumped to put that first on the list.  I mean, come on!  Mary Poppins!!  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Tuppence a bag! Step-in-time! A wooden leg named Smith!  What could possibly be better?

Apparently, the new drawing program the Mr has installed on the computer.  Sigh.  Although they did get through most of it.  They really liked the chalk picture and the tea-party on the ceiling, and they loved Step-in-time.  (I mean really, who doesn't?)  But I think the final message was just a bit over their heads.  Or their attention span. 

I admit, I was bummed.  I wanted them to be rapt.  I wanted them to be enthralled.  I wanted them to get the total joy of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.  I got about half-rapt.  I guess, for a first viewing, that's not too bad.  Maybe it's just that there are so many options out there for them today, a movie like Mary Poppins is just not sophisticated enough.  And to that I say...PPHHHFFFTTTTT!  My kids will damn well love this movie!  I will force feed them this film until they can recite every line and love doing it! 

Okay.  Not really.  Or... only sort of.

10 comments:

One Photo said...

I bought Snow White as I love the dwarves but my daughter was of course terrified of the wicked witch. I think we need to wait a few more years :-)

Cheryl said...

I don't remember much of this after all this time. There's something very reassuring about these older movies for me. Simpler times.

Octopunk said...

Yes! Force feed it. Every time they ask to watch something say "sure" and then put Mary Poppins on instead. When they ask for whatever crap it was they meant, present them with quiz questions that only repeat MP viewings can answer. Make them LOVE IT.

Or maybe that's not the way, I don't know. All I'm saying is Zack's favorite movie better be original Star Wars and not that prequel nonsense.

Maggie May said...

i totally get that. i lucked out with Mary Poppins though, my kids loved it. but there have been things i wanted them to love SO badly that got a 'meh'.

Anonymous said...

I call my diaper bag my Mary Poppins bag because, some days, it seems like I'm literally trying to fit lamps with shades in there. Love that movie!! My kids better love it, too ... =>

Captain Dumbass said...

Kids can be so disappointing sometimes.

Kate Coveny Hood said...

Oh I know...they watch old Disney movies and get bored by the animation. I did have luck my my favorite The Jungle Book for a while there though. Maybe too much luck since then-three-year-old Oliver wanted to watch it 20 times a day. Now he thinks it's scary. Kids today...

Jackie McGuinness said...

Yes force feed them! I love this movie! I love the Sound of Music more though. A GF friend and I took her daughter 13 and my niece 12 to a Sing Along Sound of Music and they were totally mortified by us singing along and acting out!
I also loved the musical Sound of Music and saw it twice, but could only drag DH to it once!

anymommy said...

AAAAAMMMMEEEENNNNN. I too have already insisted we all sit through Mary Poppins. They liked the penguins. I watched, rapt, though. I also plan to push Sound of Music mercilessly when the time comes.

Zip n Tizzy said...

Ha!

I got the boys hooked but I started them early. T used to walk around the house saying "tuppence a bag, tuppence a bag."

Now they're completely hooked on Star Wars. We only have the originals. Z borrowed the new ones from the library, but they make my skin crawl. Darth Vader I could handle, but that young Anikin Skywalker... What a creep!

My mom took me on the train to San Francisco to see Mary Poppins in a balcony theater for my 8th birthday. I LOVED it. Simpler times indeed!