Row, row, row your boat

Sand art in Zandvoort (The Netherlands)
Sand art in Zandvoort (The Netherlands)

I apologize.

For not being able to grow up.

Or on second thought –

I don’t.

Chances that any of you has seen Bridge to Terabithia are probably quite close to zero. I only saw it because there wasn’t that much else to watch (mainly because I have seen anything else I want to watch currently running in the cinema), but the target audience is youngsters.

Good, as I am only 12 myself.

It is a risk though watching a youngster film on a rainy Sunday afternoon, because it means a lot of kids, a lot of popcorn and a lot of noise. But I survived and was surprised about the quality of this film. It was one of those rare children’s movies that actually took its subject serious, and also one that had quite serious subjects, and it can definitely be seen and enjoyed by adults as well. I cried like a baby watching it.

What I am trying to move towards though is that in this film the 2 main kid characters have such a lively imagination that they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls and ogres. It looks very real, but we, as a viewer know that it only exists in their minds. What I loved about this film was their ability to imagine, because that’s exactly what is going on in my mind all day. Which is sometimes fun, and sometimes extremely tiring.

So when I saw Times Magazine on Saturday – blame the editor of The Times for making a cover like that and for having 4 pages more inside the magazine – no home work was done and I forgot everything about the fact that I should have been in the theatre at 4pm. So I missed Ben Wisham in a play in Soho Theatre, and that was a pretty stupid move, because I had been looking forward to that a lot!

In stead I saw the Eurovision song contest with 2 nice people, one from the US who had never seen it before, and one from Finland who kept apologizing for the incredible annoying blond girl who’d somehow made it into being a co host. The UK ended close to last (The Netherlands didn’t even make it to the final, and neither did Denmark), but I learned one thing – Terry Wogan is one of the funniest men to have as a commentator for the Eurovision. He has no filter at all and said things exactly as I thought them, so he was brilliant.

But back to power of imagination (and don’t hit me):

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

6 thoughts to “Row, row, row your boat”

  1. Okay, I know Zooey Deschanel from the HGTTG and Robert Patrick for his great performance in Terminator 2 and X-files, but this movie doesn’t ring any bells whatsoever. It has scored 84% on the critics tomatometer (wwww.rottentomatoes.com), so it must be good.
    The Eurovision Song Contest…I usually watch it. But we (The Netherlands) didn’t make it true the semifinals, so I watched the first 2 episodes of ‘The Nine’ instead. The song form Servia was great though.

  2. Ah, never grow up, Ingrid! I love reading your movie reviews … sadly, I don’t think we can watch the Eurovision Song Contest. Of course, I probably would miss it as I’ve managed to miss every Canadian Idol.

    I love the sand art pic.

  3. @Pedro : Zooey Deschanel was of course great in HGTTG, but she was quite good in this film as well, to small a part though. I hope she will get some better parts at some point. – But yes – surprisingly good film for a childrens film.

    @Kate – I won’t – I can’t I think :)
    And the Eurovision – really you didn’t miss anything really.

  4. I love being able to sink into that fantasy world too…sometimes it transports me to seeing through my childhood eyes. It’s comforting that others are like that too! And thats why I like your blog Ingrid!

    And as for Eurovision, I think if the UK chose an act more of a product of this country than trying ot fake it with Europop, they may actually get somewhere….will they listen…?…I doubt it…

  5. My 5 year old son watched the movie with his Mom and I, he wasn’t scared too much, but he was really mad that the little girl died. We had to pause the movie and explain that “bad things happen to good people”. He was so perplexed, it really was humurous.

    We enjoy your blog.

    Have fun

    Cheers,

    Mike, Julie, Nicholas

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