We start with a splash! See what I did there?
I swore that the kids wouldn’t get scared. Then they got scared.
Thank God for the extra footage on YouTube and behind the scenes stuff. It tilted the terror to wonder. It’s a fine line from moaning to “how cool” with this age group.
I was guided by the notion that JAWS did not frighten me at all when I was younger. I was far too busy being afraid of more rational things. Like the widow down the street, abject embarrassment and this crap show who is somehow considered acceptable viewing for pre-schoolers.
Right? Gah.
Granted, my kids live at the beach, so maybe their fear is a tad more warranted than when I watched this movie as a grade-schooler in West New York, NJ.
THE LESSON: Spielberg was the man! “We’re gonna need a bigger shark.”
THE WORRY MOMENT: There’s more blood than I remember.
FINN (9): “What’s skinny dipping?”
ME: “Swimming with no clothes on.”
FINN: “Why would you do that?”
ME: “I don’t know. I don’t do that.”
CHARLIE (11): “Thank God!”
AN HOUR LATER:
FINN: “What was that called, ‘skin diving?’ I liked that. I like the skin diving.”
ME: (canceling plans for this blog’s existence)
Beyond that though, the movie works it’s magic on them. It’s as big and fun as I remember it.
CHARLIE: “I like this movie a lot. It’s scary. I like that they made the shark’s presence scarier than its looks. Like (Daddy) said (the shark) didn’t work in the beginning, but they kept working on it. That was cool. I loved that it was scary even before we saw it. 4.5 stars.”
NEXT UP?: “Who are the other really great directors?”
Joe Costal 