Every year, it doesn’t officially feel like summer until I get to go to the drive in. Specifically, when we get to watch that Pic commercial before the movie starts – and yes, they still sell the product in the snack bar. 🙂
I’ve made it to the drive in twice already this summer, the most recent trip a couple weeks ago to see the second installation of Inside Out. I loved the first one, as many people did, and I couldn’t wait to see what was up for Riley now that she was about to enter the dreaded puberty years. Inside Out 2 did not disappoint.
I heard a lot of folks say that the movie wasn’t appropriate for younger kids – that the story was too complicated, or that they couldn’t understand these new emotions that Riley experiences. And for super young kids, perhaps. Hopefully they won’t get it (although there is plenty to keep them entertained). But for some of us who were incredibly anxious (and, yes, nostalgic) as young kids, I wish I had a movie like this – I could have pointed to the screen during Riley’s panic attack and said, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” The lucky ones never meet this particular emotion, but some of us experienced it long before we had any kind of vocabulary to explain what was happening inside our minds and bodies.
Part of the joy of watching this movie in my favorite move-watching spot (Skyway Drive-In Theatre) was getting to watch it with some of my favorite people – friends of mine I’ve had since high school and their kids. The Skyway has a series of benches up front that as kids we always wanted to sit on – which involved getting there early to be first in line before the gates opened. There was always a race for those benches, parents dropping kids barely inside the gate, everyone running as fast as they could to claim a coveted spot. How we ever thought those things were comfortable, I’ll never know. 😂 The kids were fine, but we adults had backsides and lower backs that had some things to say about it.
There were moments throughout the movie we could all relate to having lived through it, all while looking at this next generations, most of whom were yet to experience it. “Sign me up,” Jen said when Joy catapulted uncomfortable memories to the back of Riley’s mind to be forgotten. “We definitely have those,” D said when they encountered the sar-chasms.
We are, of course, already excited about the prospect of an Inside Out 3 (and the TV series spin-off coming supposedly in the spring). And planning to bring more cushions if we are ever going to sit on those benches again. 😂
Ami Maxine 