1st time:where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Friday, July 3rd, 2009
show: 11:05 am in 3-D (1st show extra dollar discount matinee )
costs: $9.00 ticket + $4.25 Medium Diet Coke + $1.50 CVS Mediterranean Trail Mix ( smuggled-in ) = $14.75
auditorium: 8
seat: 3rd row, 12th column
2nd time:
where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA ( I didn't have enough time to go to Fairfield )
when: Monday, July 6th, 2009
show: 12:25 pm in 2-D (1st show extra dollar discount matinee )
costs: $6.00 ticket + $4.25 Medium Diet/Zero/Cherry Coke + $1.39 CVS Asian Blend Trail Mix ( smuggled-in ) = $11.64
auditorium: 7
seat: 4th row, 9th column
Envious of his expectant Mammoth friends, Sid ( John Leguizamo ) decides to become a "mother" to a trio of T-Rex eggs ( which he names Eggbert, Shelly & Yolko ) that he happens upon quite by accident--and with Sid, everything is always accidental. The T-Rex mother rescues her babies and takes them back to her world with Sid along for the ride. His friends decide to rescue him, following the trail which leads them to a terra sanctum, a hollow-earth inner world, where its inhabitants live insulated from the mass extinction of the surface-dwelling dinosaurs.
In this inner world, they come across a reluctant guide, an eye patch-wearing super weasel named Buck ( Simon Pegg ), the definitive prehistoric precursor of Captain Ahab of Moby Dick fame, who's obsessed with exacting his revenge on a white super-saurus named Rudy.
And, of course, no ICE AGE movie is complete without the lovable, scene-interweaving and scene-stealing Scrat ( Chris Wedge ), who may or may not be ready to give up on his singular acorn obsession.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Buck's Rule # 3; 2.) The "cell phone" rock; 3.) The Chasm of Death, a.k.a. Big Smelly Crack; 4.) Scrat and Scratte ( Karen Disher ) falling into the tar pit then resuming their acorn race; 5.) Sid trying to keep an Archeopteryx from being eaten alive; 6.) The "wax" job; 7.) The Tango struggle; 8.) Pterodactyl chase/rescue scene; 9.) Raptors on the attack; 10.) Scrat and Scratte on the "turn-table;" 11.) The Rudy chase; 12.) Scrat helping Scratte with home furniture; and 13.) The ending scene. This movie also pays homage to The Flintstones and The Chipmunks.
audience reaction: The kids in the auditorium found this to be a very funny movie.
recommendation: Go see this with children, the 3-D show if possible.
spoiler alert! The dinosaurs are exaggeratedly-sized to gigantic Godzilla proportions. This kid's movie can easily do without the penis jokes ( three in all ). If it were for real, Sid would have easily burned to a crisp on that rock-plate in the river of lava.
fyi: When I was a little boy, I tried to milk a pregnant goat and almost got gored for my effort. The writers could have used a pregnant cow instead of a dozing bull, "iykwim."
Scrat's scenes are always stand-outs because they employ the universal movie-making language of "Show, Don't Tell." One doesn't need to know a word of English to understand his scenes and are therefore perfect for any child the world over to see.
word of advice: It might be time to talk to your kids about "the birds and the bees" and their attached ( ahem ) "appendages."
tidbits: When I stepped out of the cineplex to go to my car, I noticed that my brown T-shirt had pen marks all over the chest pocket because I was busily taking down notes while the movie was playing.
Later on, I went to Kinko's ( Sir Speedy was closed for the July 4th weekend ) to have a thousand business cards made for my Cine-Man. They will be showing me the proof on Wednesday of next week. I can't wait to get my business cards all printed-up! I paid almost $40.00, but it will be worth it.
The movie title ought to be: ICE AGE: DUSK OF THE DINOSAURS.
2nd tidbits: The wasabi peas in my trail mix got more and more potent with each mouthful! I was just glad that I had a medium-sized drink to dilute its potency with. If I had any nasal congestion before the movie started, it was all gone before the movie ended! Banzai, wasabi! Banzai!
