Rainy Days and Movies...A Perfect Combination

I’ve been subjected to a lot of family films this summer. Partially because I happen to be one of the few moms on the planet who secretly loves kid films and also because when it rains, I’m not the type to tackle an origami project with my children.  Instead, I'm the first one to ask my troops, “Who wants to go to the movies?” 

The funny thing is that recently, whether I've watched a movie in a theater, on cable or on DVD, I keep seeing a common theme - everything old is new again.  If you happen to have had the chance to to take your family to “Aliens in the Attic,” where a group of kids discover a gaggle of pint sized aliens on the roof of their summer rental home, tell me, what alien movie would that make you think of? Can’t seem to guess? Well then, I’ll tell you - there are parts of this film that totally reminded me of ET - especially the scene where the little girl takes one of the friendlier aliens under her wing.  The big difference between the films? In "Aliens in the Attic," most of the creatures are hell bent on taking over the planet. ET - he’s just a poor little guy who wants to go home:
  

Just this past weekend, my daughter and her friend rented “17 Again” which stars Matthew Perry as a down on his luck nearly divorced dad who believes he lost his big moment to become a basketball superstar when his high school girlfriend dropped a bombshell on him. When everything in his life seems to be going wrong, an “angel” dressed up as a janitor steps in and Perry finds himself back in high school. But this time, you guessed it, he’s 17 Again, bears a striking resemblance to Zac Ephron (wait he is Zac Ephron) and has a chance to live his life over again. The funny thing is, a few days later, I got the chance to watch one of my all-time favorite films “Big” - where 13 year old Josh Baskin makes a wish with a spooky fortune teller machine and is turned into Tom Hanks.  Even though I've probably seen "Big" 100 times, I didn't care - I grabbed my comfy blanket, snuggled up with my kids and stepped back in time!

Now the third movie of the summer we’ve seen which happens to be my son’s favorite of the season is "Ice Age 3." I guess nothing else quite compares to a hapless squirrel who can’t catch a nut but finally finds true love, or that this time around dinosaurs crash the party and scare the daylights out of Manny and Diego. Sid on the other hand, adopts three baby dinosaurs and the next thing he knows, he’s taken captive by their mom and must be rescued by his friends.   Since we're on the subject of dinosaur films, I have to say, my all time pre-historic flick of all time was Jurassic Park - sure it's not funny like "Ice Age" but it had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish! 

Have you seen any films recently that take you back to your childhood?