Whaddaya Think of That?

I am generally of the opinion that most mass entertainment is purely for enjoyment (or tolerance, as the case may be), but I have to say our recent viewing of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian may have changed my mind-at least a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for being entertained. Escapism is a practice I can really hide behind.

The best review we'd heard of the movie went something like this: "If you liked the first one, you'll like the second one, too... 'cause they are essentially the same!"

From the first trailer, the boys had a plan to see v2.0. They loved the original(history and facts are tops!), and were thrilled to see a movie set in a place they'd been.

When Tate was turning 7, he told us definitively that he'd like to go to "a dinosaur museum and an art museum." Our best bet was to take a trip to see Grandma & Grandpa in Washington, DC. Once on the Smithsonian Mall, we hit Natural History, National Art Gallery, Air and Space, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument (or "giant pencil", as it was dubbed).

The movie was fun. As expected, the shortest among us couldn't have had a better time. And when we got home, we saw art breeding art. Dane stated emphatically that "The Thinker" was his favorite character (spoiler alert: when Larry and Amelia ask him for some information, he just keeps saying "I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking...") and Dane does a pretty good impression of the voice. After we all laughed at Dane for a while (a relatively frequent passtime here) he told us that he was going to build his own "Thinker" with clay.

Here's his finished product:


Not bad for a little monkey!