Corey and I took the girls to go see
MirrorMask at the Varsity theater last night. The Varsity is in "Campus Town" right across the street from ISU and townies like us don't show up there very often. Ours were the only children there. Judging by the skunky smell wafting off several of my fellow theater goers, I figured that about half the audience was probably on the same intellectual level as our kids anyway.
MirrorMask is based on the book by one of my favorite authors,
Neil Gaiman. Like Labyrinth and Dark Crystal, it's also a Jim Henson production so the effects are much more real seeming because most of the effects aren't CGI but puppets and guys in weird suits. Added to the weirdness is the fact that the characters and sets were based on the artwork of the director,
Dave McKean. The visuals were stunning yet murky, and a wee bit confusing, like all of McKean's stuff.
What I like about going to movies with the girls is that they accept weirdness. Once they understood that the main character was dreaming, I didn't get anymore questions from them besides clearing up basic things like "is that a boy or a girl?" It wasn't until the dream didn't seem like a dream anymore that the girls began to get nervous about the plot. Rightly so. The Black Queen mistook our heroine, Helena for her daughter, The Princess, who had gone to the real world to take over Helena's life. I was a bit worried when the Black Queen turned Helena into the Black Princess by virtue of a goth makeover: black nails, spiked hair, leather gauntlets and the works. Anna leaned over and said that Helena looked much cooler that way. I was horrified, actually, but the film went on to show how unhappy Helena was as Gothic Junior Miss so Anna was relieved when Helena changed back to white pajamas. Whew! I enjoyed myself and I think the girls did too. It had a good happy ending that left Anna, at least, wanting to know more. I think we'll pick up the book at the library and read it together.
MirrorMask was absolutely packed with symbolism (keys and locks, stuff like that), cautions about letting daughters grow up but not letting them become too sexualized, and other grown-up silliness was lost on the kids, which was just as well. Come to think of it, Labyrinth had the same message of a teenaged girl on the cusp of womanhood only she was being enticed by an older man rather than being disgusted at watching herself behaving like a grown-up like the main character of MirrorMask (Personally, at 15, I would have done Bowie in a heartbeat, but I doubt that's the message I was supposed to have gotten.) Perhaps someone in the Henson company had a bad time with a teenaged daughter?
While sitting there at the theater, I came to realize that all four girls have a terrible cough. I guess I'd become deaf to it here at home but in a nearly empty theater, it sounded like I'd brought a TB ward with me. I kept all four home from school today but they're having a hard time sticking to the "if you have a sick day, you must rest during school hours" rule. I thought they were all playing their Gameboys or coloring in their beds but I keep hearing the thunder of footsteps up there. I should probably go dope them up with more cough syrup and make them take a nap. Or at least make them be quiet so I can take one.