Movie Mania

By Erin

I’m sleeping with Owen Wilson.

Every night, I roll over and hear “Kapow!” and “Kachow!” in Owen’s dreamy, unmistakable voice.

As a reward for my three-year-old’s very first poop in the potty, he brought home Lightening McQueen, racecar from the new Pixar movie Cars, from the toy store. And because we are a co-sleeping family, Lightening, voiced by Owen Wilson, has been sandwiched between my toddler and I every night from 8 p.m. to 7a.m.

Not exactly the way I pictured my first roll in the hay with a celebrity here in Los Angeles.

Even more troubling though, the release date for this movie is June. JUNE. It is not even IN theatres yet and my son thinks Cars and all it’s characters are demi-Gods, gracing his life with vroom and zoom goodness.

Admittedly, because my husband is in the “industry” we get a bit more excited around here for major animation releases. But even at a recent trip to the zoo, where every child standing in front of the Lemur exhibit was singing “I like to move it, move it,” I KNEW we were not the only family with Movie Mania.

My children are still young, so I think I’ve been spared the real mania thus far. In fact, my three-year-old’s first movie IN the theatre will probably be in June. But if he is already pumped up for this new film, what happens in the summer when he sees it on the big screen, but is UNABLE to watch it 45 times a day at home, because it’s not on DVD yet? Will we be spending every Saturday at our local Cineplex? Will it be like a ride at an amusement park where you exit the car with your heart pumping and you race to get right back in line?

I’m not sure, but I’m saving my pennies for those tickets, just in case.

Erin Kotecki Vest lives in Southern California and is a writer and stay-at-home Mom of Jackson, three, and Hala, one. She spent nearly a decade as a news reporter and anchor  in Orlando and Los Angeles.

Comments

[Jocelyn Corlett]

Lightning McQueen. I suddenly miss that car! Haha! Looking forward to that second movie! The kids are goin' to be happy. Owen Wilson fans, like yourself, are goin' to be happy.

[politically incorrect mom]

Oh hilarious! I hadn't heard of that movie, but if there's a chance I might get to sleep with Owen Wilson, I'll be sure we don't miss that one.

[Kristi]

We are very excited for Cars in this house too - and we don't even have kids. My husband has been making his cereal choices based on which brand has a Cars car in them. We'll probably run into you at the theatre - June 9th is totally blocked out for us! :)

[Goldberry]

That's so funny...

Cars was set to come out for Thanksgiving last year, so we thought and that was going to be my daughter's first movie. Instead her first movie (at three years old) was Curious George and she loved it! Of course we had to go see Ice Age - The Meltdown, too - twice :)

[SassyK]

That is hillarious! I personally would rather hear maybe George Clooney or Orlando Bloom though....

My little one is only 4 months old so no theatre trips for us yet. But we have quite a collection going at home so he should be content for a while. Especially with the Veggie Tales movies, we had to get a CD for the car because he likes Bob's and Larry's voices so much..... our rides are much more fun now!

[Dana]

I didn't even know about this movie until I read your entry. I need to get out more. :)

[Lynn]

The first movie I took my oldest to was Madagascar and he was 3. I spent the next month or so trying to explain in a way that he would understand WHY he couldn't watch that movie again right now. We had tears and anger and guilt(he thought it was because he was in trouble for something) etc etc. Maybe explaining it BEFORE we went to see the movie would have help.

BUT, he is now 4 and we still have no been back to the theater. He behaved wonderfully but that next month was really hard.