“You watched Swiss Family Robinson too?”
“Oh, ya. I loved the coconut grenades.”
“I loved the kissing.”
A friend recently sold VHS tapes from her collection and I decided to grab up a few, including The Swiss Family Robinson, a classic I loved as a child. We love VHS tapes at our house because they don’t get scratched the second a kid touches them and can handle some serious wear and tear. I only realized how fantastic old school tapes are after realizing that your chances of watching a 20 year-old tape from the library without skips far exceeded your odds with a year-old DVD.
Tim and I opted for a family movie time yesterday afternoon after church, snuggling downstairs with the kids. They don’t always love live action at 6, 4, and 20 months, but we were hoping a tame tale of adventure would capture their attention. The boys grew a bit restless, but Ella remained glued to the tv, enchanted by pet zebras, a tree house, and a girl disguised as a boy. Some of the “special effects” of the movie are a little less than enduring and there are some definite PC missteps, but overall The Swiss Family Robinson holds up as an exciting, funny, romantic tale you can share with your kids.
My favorite part of the whole experience? I’m upstairs as Tim prepares the movie, listening to Ella chat with him. I laugh out loud as this conversation makes its way up to me:
Ella: “I wonder how they get ship wrecked.”
Tim: “I know, but you’ll have to watch to find out.”
Ella: “How do you know?”
Tim: “I watched it when I was a kid.”
Ella (incredulous): “But, how can you remember?”
I mean, really. 33 is just about the time memory loss sets in, right?
Little kids are awesome at making us feel old, aren’t they?
I watched it a long time ago, sounds like I should watch it again.
This is one of my all time favorites! My kids love it now too, although my 2 year old doesn’t sit through it for long. 🙂
I love family movie time!
For as many times as I have climbed around the “tree” in Disney, I don’t think I have actually seen the movie. 🙂 OR maybe I have and just forgot.
I can’t wait until Nate has the patience for a whole movie! We are at about 45 minutes now which is amazing! Unless it’s one of his favorites then he might watch the whole thing.