Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer…

A Movie Review…

Phil and I found ourselves with some unexpected “date time” this afternoon. This is always a blessing, because we do not often have the ability to go out, primarily because it is difficult to find a babysitter for five children… not to mention, expensive. However, we do have friends with whom we make an occasional date trade, and they had some free time this afternoon, so we did as well!

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to find interesting things to do for dates. We have pretty much become resigned to “dinner and a movie”. As this day approached, we were finding it harder and harder to find a movie. But in the end, we choose Judy Moody, because it was the only option that was not a sequel to some other movie we hadn’t seen and that appeared to check out “clean” (by our standards) at plugged in movie reviews.

Much of what I read ahead of time regarding Judy Moody seemed to compare the film to Ramona and Beezus. I love the latter. But other than the obvious similarity (both films are based on books written for a late elementary, pre-teen audience), I didn’t really think they were going to be all that alike. I was right.

Ramona and Beezus is what I would call a true “family friendly” film. When I say this, I mean that everyone in the family can enjoy it. Although much of the content is written for children, there are adult themes, throughout, that appeal to any real life family that has ever gone through difficult days. All of this, and there are still great daydream scenes that capture the interest of even a wiggly four year old. Ramona and Beezus is a film that I can easily see myself sitting down to watch by myself or with the kids.

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer is a kids’ movie. It is written for pre-teens, and it is my opinion that it appeals to the target group very well. Now, if you have pre-teens who have seen every action flick and have been inundated with nudity and foul language, Judy Moody is probably not going to hold their attention. It is a prudent idea to introduce children to age appropriate material, and I firmly believe that one of the reasons we have so many problems with kids is because they have been forced to “grow up” too quickly. Further, are nudity, excessive violence, and profanity really appropriate for adults? Perhaps forcing them to “grow up” is not quite the right perspective. But we’re doing an excellent job of dumbing them down when they can’t read, have little to no attention span, and can use every four letter word in its correct context by the age of 3…

At any rate, my pre-teens (and my littler guys) will see Judy Moody, and I would imagine there will be a great deal of laughter, even when it isn’t all that funny…

I will watch Judy Moody with them, and I will enjoy it. I cannot, however, imagine going to my DVD shelf and picking it up to watch on a lonely night when everyone else is asleep…

Except for maybe on the day that Grace goes to college…

Because the actress that plays Judy Moody looks a little bit like Grace and acts just like her in several scenes, but the thing that stood out to me the most were that their expressions were almost identical. I almost felt as if I was watching my own child on the big screen for an hour and a half… and the little brother didn’t make a bad Caleb character, either…

So I give Judy Moody two thumbs up for the kids, and I find her to be tolerable for adults, as well. SPOILER ALERT: If nothing else, I laughed relatively hard when the elephant landed on the car…

Lisa

PS It has been a really long time since I saw any move on opening day. That it was Judy Moody must only add to my dorkiness…