First Family Movie Night Fail

Last week Mike finished downloading all the Disney animated feature films. Yes, all. At least, he said he got them all. There were even titles we'd never heard of. Anyway, he downloaded them so we could have family movie nights. And we had our first one last Friday night.

Before I write about the night, I should begin with a movie watching history. Our first movie was Tangled. Lia laughed and Desi cried. Since then we've also seen, on video, Snow White, Finding Nemo and the Aristocats. Desi cried in Snow White and Finding Nemo too. I guess she's really quite a sensitive girl. She cried when Snow White died, and she cried when she thought Nemo died. Sweet thing. I picked the Aristocats because there's nothing too scary in that movie, but I guess the kids also found it boring since they tend to look for other things to do (play with toys, eat, walk out) even before half the movie is through. They do, however, like the part where the cats were singing Everybody Wants to be a Cat.

So ok, fast forward to last Friday, we told Lia and Desi to finish their dinner and get into their pajamas because we had a surprise for them. Instead of the usual TV and education video before bedtime, we set up the den with pillows and blankets and had a Juan Family Movie Night screening of The Little Mermaid. This is probably my favorite Disney movie. Good story, the best music, awesome villain. So anyway, we all settled down in the den and the girls were quite engrossed in the film. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, the two girls gravitated toward their Daddy so that I was alone on the sofabed and the three of them were cuddling together on the LaZboy. Daddy score! But when Mike started singing along to Kiss the Girl, Lia said, "Daddy. No singing."

Soon after that, when Ursula captured Ariel and then tricked Triton into giving her the crown, Mike told me that both girls were crying! Even after the happy ending, Lia was too upset to talk about the movie. And when we asked them if they liked it, they both said no. If they try to tell us what part made them sad or scared, they would get choked up and cry again! They were even too upset to say their bedtime prayers! Fail fail fail. I think Desi got over it quickly enough. But Lia was clearly extremely upset. She said The Little Mermaid didn't make her sad, it made her scared. I think in particular the part where Ursula grew into a giant octopus out of the sea. Which was one of my favorite parts. But I guess it's too much for a little 5-year-old who watches nothing but Playhouse Disney and Baby Einstein.

When we brought them to their room to go to sleep, I asked her if we can watch The Little Mermaid again when she's a bit bigger, and Lia said, "Book na lang."

Right of course, Lia. The books are always better than the movies.

So what are we going to watch for Family Movie Night now?