Laura

I seldom post movie or book reviews. I mostly enjoy what I enjoy and then move along. But Frozen...I loved Frozen, and I want to write about it. :) So, starting without spoilers, but there will be spoilers behind the cut and no need to avoid them in the comments.

The non-spoiler version: This is a very Disney, classical Disney, movie in look/feel, and it's definitely a Disney musical. My understanding - and I have not read the source - is that you had best treat it as its own thing and not expect it to look like its source.

It is visually beautiful and glorious. The music is amazing, and some of the more questionable Disney tendencies with regard to women are either not present or severely dialed back, IMO.

Olaf, the snowman, could easily drive me around the bend several times if I had to watch too much of him. Luckily, he's not so pervasive that that's a problem. And he is funny when he appears - but like many forms of snack, he's best taken in moderation, IMO.

Bring a coat if you're prone to getting cold while looking at cold weather sitting in your theater. I was chilly. :P

Scott and I saw this. We didn't take the boys. I'm debating whether I'm willing to let them watch it yet. I'm not sure whether or not Ian would really understand the areas that worry me; Drew would, and I'm not sure if he's ready to have to think about those topics. He might be, and I think overall he'd really like the movie otherwise. I think Ian would, because Ian is my little dancer who adores music.

The first line of spoilers below the cut will be my list of potential triggers/questionable elements for small children. After that, the in-depth babble.

( Spoilers ahead! )

If you don't mind spoilers, or don't plan to see the movie, and in any way like Disney animation or music, may I strongly suggest watching the "Let It Go" song/video, which is available on YouTube? It's gorgeous, IMO. Here's a link to the official version of Let It Go.

Very sleepy today. (Drew kept us up until midnight-ish, and Scott longer. Scott's sweet.)

Went to see Coraline in 3D today. If I'd known what it was like, I wouldn't have gone; but I'm glad I did. That is to say the 3D is tastefully done, but not spectacular or wowing (and doesn't try to be) as I was told, and the story on the big screen isn't, without a deep wow, worth it to me. Bear in mind, however, that (a) I generally do not enjoy movies enough to justify movie theater prices almost ever (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the first Narnia movie, and the first Harry Potter being the exceptions that spring to mind readily), and (b) even less so with children's animated movies (although this one at least was less childish than some and much more fun, as expected! I walked out on Shrek and Cars, for example), and (c) I was away from Drew for three hours due to drive time, line time, movie time, and a quick errand on the way home. Part (c) really was a large part of why it wasn't worth it.

That said, it's a good story, it's beautifully told, it's gorgeous, the 3D is great. It's just not my thing, entirely. If you're going to see it in theaters, give yourself a treat if you can and see it in 3D - but if you miss that, don't worry about it. It's nice, it's not essential.

So glad to get home to Drew after that, though. I was going to go check out the Sherwood YMCA and I said "no way" - I will do that another day. That would've been just too much in one day, and it's not a data point that I need until next month at the earliest anyway.

Got to play a little bit of World of Warcraft with Scott, after I fed Drew and before he started fussing about other stuff. Not much, but a bit. 'Twas fun.

And now I go to bed way early because wow, did the late night last night, early day today, and outing wipe me out. Heavily. Okay, actually I nap because the chicken teriyaki in the crockpot will need to be tended in about an hour, but. A nap would be good.

Scott and I went to see Stardust, finally, this evening. (We've only been intending to do so since, oh, GenCon. Kinda needed to do it before the movie got out of theaters entirely.)

I'm still not convinced the movie was quite worth the fees the movie theaters charge for evening showings, but I'm not sure it wasn't either, which is far better than most movies do with me.

Some of the silliness amused me and some of it just annoyed me. The early part of the movie was more with the annoyance; after that it sucked me in and I enjoyed the later parts more.

Which is about all I'll say, to avoid spoilerage. I'm glad we went.

Okay, I'll add one more thing, not related to the movie: Babe decided my dangling hair was a cat toy. Unfortunately, the hair was dangling in front of my posterior. (Babe is lucky that I love her so much.) She is now crawling into my lap looking sort of uncertain and sputtering an attempt at a purr. She is too cute for words. She is also not attacking my butt any more, which is definitely appreciated.

Yes, I really am checking on her this much, and I would more if I didn't know I'd drive them AND myself to distraction. I went to visit her - she is definitely doing better. She stood some of the time, sat much of it, lay down only when I closed the door on her again. She purred for me, and she ate a bit of the canned food I had (with their permission) brought over - I left some there with them, since she can be finicky. They'd gotten her to eat some of what they had but I suspected she might eat more if it was something she liked, and she did eat some of it.

She wanted to climb out of the cage and down into my lap (or go exploring, not sure which) though I didn't let her. That's a lot more initiative than she had last night, as you might imagine. Poor kitty, she still looks worn, but I think she is doing better. I hope she is. We'll see what the results are - I'm still hoping for the best there.

I did go to the Gardens this morning, in the end, after I'd called for the morning update on her condition and found out we couldn't bring her home yet. I was hoping they'd bring me a bit of peace. But because of my timing, I arrived about 10 minutes after they opened on a lovely July Sunday, rather than during members' hours as I would usually do in the summer. The parking lot was almost full. Lemme try that again: the parking lot was almost full. They were lovely, but they were crowded, and more than one "oh look, a baby screaming" moment occurred (only two, that I can recall, but still!). I missed the irises this year by not going sooner. There was one left, slightly limp, and several that were drying and going, but basically I missed the irises. On the other hand, I saw a lovely purple flower cluster tucked back by a waterfall in the lowest, farthest corner of the natural garden, where I don't recall ever seeing such a flower before. That was a magical moment even if it was soon followed by continuing on so as not to block the path for the rest of the hordes....

STILL processing photos from our trip to Michigan/Ohio/Wisconsin. I will get them all done and then uploaded. But it may take a bit yet. In the meanwhile, for those who haven't already found it, a really cute photo of our friend's kitten Max, from when we were cat-sitting for her, during the worst of the heat.

Oh, and I ordered a bottle of 13 from BPAL. I hope I don't regret that, but I adore what most of their chocolate scents do on me. And if it hates me, I imagine I can find someone who wants it somewhere.

Did not see Harry Potter. Not sure now when I will - not up for a lengthy movie, especially if it stays true to the book, right now.

The third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We finally went tonight and saw it, and I had a marvelous time (so, from what he said, did Scott). I know some people didn't enjoy it as much but they also didn't enjoy the second, mostly - I did - so I was hoping. MUCH fun. And because I got out of work just in time, we managed to hit the last matinee and save some money, not to mention the part where we get home early enough that I can type on the keyboard instead of falling asleep on it!

Taquitos. Not so much because they are excellent, but because we ran to the movie without my finding time for dinner, and I am now no longer starving.

Antibiotics, because I hold hope that soon this sinus infection will start to back off.

Swaps. Especially the "favorite color" swap which I signed up for on a whim. I got an excellent package and a lovely bracelet that I've worn twice (in the three days since I got it) and a bunch of other things all of which are very, very glee-worthy. (Yarn, fabric, candles, coin purse, bath items, a notebook, a mini photo album...a small box, but packed full of much goodness.) AND I sent out what I thought was a good package and got a very happy response from the recipient when it arrived. Especially cool because she let her children help unwrap the things - and I'd tucked a couple in for them, so they got that. :)

Of course, my memories are so focused around me and how I interacted with my parents, rather than other facets - still, they're what I have.

( A miscellany of memories, all sorts of things. )

And it's after 10 and I'm sleepy, so I think I'll wrap this up here for now.

I considered posting these as individual backdated entries but frankly that seemed more spammy and nuisancy than was warranted. We've been home since about 10 or 11 this morning - the coast was lovely and we had a great time, but we were both also very ready to be home by this morning, and so here we are. I did get photos, I don't have them up (and haven't processed all of them, even) so I will post separately to link to those when they're up. Meanwhile, here's the stuff I wrote up while on the trip (had the laptop, but no network).

( 5/31/2006 7 am )

( 5/31/2006 12 pm )

( 5/31/2006 5:45 pm (and funny - if crude - bumper sticker) )

( 6/1/2006 7:45 pm )

( 6/1/2006 9:58 pm )

So, Scott and I just got back from seeing MirrorMask. I have been waiting very, very eagerly for this movie. It was not showing in our area until Friday night, and today was our chance to go see it together.

Waiting very eagerly for the movie may have done it a disservice, as I expected it to be way cooler than it was. It was very good! It just did not live up to my hyped expectations. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, though, I just can't do the giddy fangirl bit quite (and I feel like it almost deserves that).

One of the critics quoted somewhere that I read had said it didn't have a plot, it was all just visually pretty. I respectfully submit that this critic is obviously not blind, and equally obviously is stupid. It most assuredly does have a plot (two, even, if you're into subtlety). What probably threw the critic is that a large part of the movie, taking part as it does in a dream realm, obeys dream-realm logic and the leaps are sometimes staggering. They are never unclear to the audience; what's "true" is obvious. Why it's true is often left unexplained and unsubstantiated. While this is very realistic for a dream realm setting, it's a little disconcerting and sometimes leads to a feel of staggering along with no idea what to expect next. As is the way of dreams.

I think it very effectively accomplished what it meant to; I think it's very beautiful; I think it does, indeed, have a plot; I think that plot and setting may not be satisfying to people with very literal outlooks. As you might (if you were a thinking being) expect from something that focuses on a dream realm for the largest part of the tale....

I'm glad we went to see it. I don't know if it was entirely worth the effort and cost, but if it wasn't then it came close. And this is, please note, in spite of the fact that the only theater in our area to get it was the Regal Fox. (And mind, I feel lucky that any theater around here got it - even two weeks after the limited release started - because for a while we weren't going to get it at all and I still have friends who don't have it listed as playing in their state, ever.) The Regal Fox is downtown. This meant a half-hour drive each way, paying for a parking garage, and the cost of the movie. (Granted, we went to a matinee, and the parking garage was cheap, so this is mostly the time.) Due to timing for the noon show, it also meant paying for and eating theater food. I'd moan and groan except that I like theater popcorn. It's pathetic, but I do.

If this had played at the Regal Wilsonville, and we'd gone just five minutes over to see and payed the same, I would not be nearly as ambivalent. I could really do without the drive time to get downtown. But I'm very glad we went and I think it was, on the whole, worth it in spite of the nuisancy drive.

If you like the sort of thing described on the Mirrormask web site, and in my notes above, then please, see if it's in your area and if it is, check it out. It's gorgeous.