Why Kung Fu Panda is no Winnie the Pooh

I will admit that I enjoy watching movies more than reading. I also will fess up to enjoying the films To Kill a Mockingbird and The Godfather more than the novels, although in both cases it was incredible performances that made it so. I can also state, I think without too much debate, that perhaps the worst film adaptation of a great book was Bonfire of the Vanities, which turned one of the lead characters, an old Yiddish judge, into Morgan Freeman (?!) thus destroying one of the major subplots.


So I was somewhat hesitant when I took Elijah to go see the film version of Where the Wild Things Are, a classic children's book that consists of maybe 100 words, yet was over an hour and a half long as a movie. We had already experienced Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which besides the title, shared little with the book we read together on many nights. My fears about the Maurice Sendak classic turned out to be well founded. Although Elijah seemed to enjoy the movie (though restlessness was evident on occasion) the charm of the book was completely lost in the midst of what I would call a movie not about childhood escape but about monster angst.

As draining as watching the tortured souls of the "Wild Things" was (the anguish of new friends, old relationships and anger management were constant topics for discussion), it was a joy compared to the "live action" versions of the Dr. Seuss classics How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat. Whoever was responsible for those travesties needs to be locked in a room for a weekend and be forced to view them over and over again.

Since Elijah's arrival, I have watched enough cartoons and kids movies to revisit my childhood many times over (OK, I'll admit I owned a lot of those films already) and unlike most of today's stuff, it holds up pretty well. Even after viewing the cartoon Grinch numerous times, both Elijah and I can still enjoy it a great deal, which is not the case with just a repeat viewing of Fly Me to the Moon (even with the 3-D). The Disney "Classics," the original Horton Hears a Who cartoon, and the Peanuts Trilogy (Charlie Brown Christmas, Thanksgiving and Great Pumpkin) show what a child's cartoon film should be about....entertaining fun, memorable music and no more than 80 minutes long.

California.... There We Went

First off I have to apologize to any blog purists who may peruse this site. I am probably violating every rule of blog etiquette by posting out of chronological order, as my previous entry concerned Halloween and our trip out west was the prior week. If everybody is okay with that...let's head for L.A.

Airplane travel with Elijah, though challenging at times, had been made much easier by markers, loads of paper and a portable DVD player (pictured above) loaded with a supply of his favorite films. In fact, concern about his behavior actually has made flying more enjoyable for me as I don't have time for my usual airplane neuroses to kick in. So after a non-eventual flight (unless one considers the reshaping of the United States important - check out the previous post on that subject) we arrived at LAX to begin our real trek, the drive to the Valley.

We all remember those math questions from our school days that started, "If a train leaves from the station at 1:00 traveling at 80 miles per hour and a car leaving from an opposite direction travels at 60 miles per hour, they will meet where?" but on this last trip I discovered a new variation on this theme. If a plane leaves Kansas City going to LAX and at the same time a family in a rental car leaves LAX for the San Fernando Valley, who will arrive at their destination first? The answer: Although the flight was the quicker trip, the time differential was less than 20 minutes.

Okay, now that I got my traffic gripe out of the way, I'd have to say that this was one of our best trips back home. We stayed with my sister and her husband, whose generosity knew no bounds. Our base camp for the trip was their guest house (or, as Elijah called it, "the little house at Aunt Kathy's") which not only afforded us privacy and a pool for little guy to jump into, but also relieved us from the stress of us worrying about (very) early morning risings and the effect on our hosts. We spent lots of time with family and kept our driving to a minimal amount (in Los Angeles terms). And the weather was incredible...shorts everyday and a comfortable beach day in LATE OCTOBER!

Elijah battled the waves to a draw but vowed to return and beat them back from the shore at our next beach visit.

As with any trip with a child, there were a couple of meltdowns (one involving a hysterical Elijah using a public restroom had me fearful of authorities busting into our stall and taking me away in cuffs) but as he always does, our little guy adapted to his surroundings and had a good time. He got to see Grandma and Grandpa (whom he now recognizes) again, as well as Uncles Ken and Marv and Aunt Kathy. He also got to visit "Miss Judy's house," meet cousins and dance one more time with Doctor Branch, a client of mine who just turned 101.

He also got to leave his mark as an artist, as a blue IHOP sign and various color drawings he created were left up on walls until our departure (note to Aunt Kathy and Miss Judy, I won't tell Elijah if you want to take them down now). As I said before, it was a great trip and just one more step on Elijah's path of life.

To Infinity......and Beyond

As Halloween approached this year, we were faced with a problem -- a child who did not want to be in costume or go trick-or-treating. The idea of dressing Elijah as a chimney sweep (never high on Sarah's list) had fallen off the radar as the Little Guy (finally) tired of "Mary Poppins." Since he was constantly going around the house dancing and singing "If I Only Had a Brain" from the the Wizard of Oz, I thought dressing up as the Scarecrow would interest Elijah, but that idea was also met with indifference. It got so bad that Sarah asked the teacher at Elijah's school if there was a way to opt out of class on the Friday before Halloween, as everybody was supposed to be costume for a school parade.

I've heard of parents asking that their children be excused from, say, sex education classes, but Halloween parties and parades? That's a new one! Then I got an idea. On the plane ride out to Los Angeles and numerous times while we were there, Elijah had asked to watch "Toy Story." He was so enamored of the film that I had to ask him, "Would you like to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween?" Just like in a Hail Mary pass at the end of a game, we connected, with a resounding "YES!" from the Little Guy. So two days before the big day, we sojourned to a costume store and got one of the last Buzz Lightyear costumes available.

To say Elijah got into the holiday spirit would be a minor understatement. He couldn't wait to put on his costume and reap the rewards. There was a show-and-tell scheduled for his class the same day as the parade and he eagerly rehearsed his speech using his "Woody" doll, but later wanted it amended to include Jessie (another character from the film). Also, according to Sarah, he was quite proud when some other kids pointed out how "cool" his costume was.

But that was a controlled environment as opposed to the dog-eat-dog world of neighborhood trick-or-treating, but my fears were unfounded. I am happy to report that an exercise that usually took all of twenty minutes and included maybe a half dozen houses, was a two hour excursion that took in most of our immediate neighborhood. Proudly announcing "My name is Buzz Lightyear and I come in peace" or Buzz's catchphrase (the title of this blog), the little guy happily rang doorbells and collected candy.

Of course there were a couple of minor faux pas. One was Elijah's insistence of not just standing on the porch of a house but walking right in and taking a look around. Another was his lack of understanding that the bowl of candy being offered was not just for him exclusively, and that he wasn't suppose to grab a handful at every house. But outside of that he was a gleeful camper collecting Hershey's Bars and Milky Ways like a real pro.

A funny incident occurred at a home around the block from us. As we approached the porch, I noticed all the lights were on and though the storm door was closed, the inside door was open. When Elijah rang the doorbell a huge Saint Bernard dog started barking and jumping up on the door. Elijah, whose fear of dogs is only matched by Sarah's fear of spiders, ran back to my side as fast as he could. We waited for a moment or so and just before we were ready to go on a woman opened the door and beckoned us with four large chocolate bars (two Nestle Crunches and two Hershey with Almonds) which Elijah bravely took and placed into his pumpkin carrier. It was almost as if we were being tested (don't let the dog scare you away and your reward we be giant candy bars) and we passed. In fact, for the next fifteen minutes, the existence and whereabouts of those two Crunch bars were Elijah's only concern.

So how successful was this year's Halloween? I'll let you know after Elijah visits the dentist in a couple of months.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND.....or at least to the house on the next block with the Crunch bars!