Personally, I don't care much for animated feature movies, whether it's the
"Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," "Anastasia" or "Hercules." I find them
boring and utterly unfunny, I don't care who did the voiceover and I really
wish they wouldn't sing all the time.
I have discovered however, and quite recently I might add, that it can be
rather entertaining to watch other people watch such a movie.
But let me backtrack here for a minute and set the stage for what's to come.
As it happens, I am blessed with a roommate who has a penchant for anything
movie-related and an affinity to store bits of seemingly unimportant and
often frighteningly obscure celluloid-related facts in the vast recesses of
his mind. By his own admission, he's a pop culture sponge.
This predisposition has led him to acquire a home theatre system featuring
a 27-inch TV, a DVD player, and a surround sound system, set up carefully
in our living room and fit to level the entire apartment complex should he
ever chose to turn the volume up to max.
Add to this a DVD collection designed to show off the greatness of all the
aforementioned technology, featuring titles such as "The Matrix," "Die Hard
1-2," "Braveheart," and the most recent acquisition, "Toy Story"—1 and 2
of course.
It appears that on a lunch-break trip to a conveniently located Best Buy,
the roomie, who does enjoy a good animated feature, stumbled upon a deal
that simply could not be passed up—both "Toy Story" DVDs for a mere $20.
After basking for a while in the envy of his co-workers, he brought his
treasure home and on Saturday night popped part two of the story into the
DVD player and sat down to let himself be entertained.
So did I. And it was quite a fascinating metamorphosis to watch.
Imagine a twenty-something professional, literate, eloquent, opinionated,
worldly. A die-hard Red Sox fan, given to profanity when they play the
Yankees and known for his victory laps around the dining room table if they
win. An X-Files conspirator and Blue Moon Ale enthusiast, capable of sound
reasoning even after the consumption of quite a few of the aforementioned
alcoholic beverages.
Then imagine all this reduced to giggles in the instant Woody and cohorts
flicker across the 27-inch screen.
It's hard to tell who had the better time, him watching the movie, or me,
watching him watch the movie. Lounging on the futon, Blue Moon perched
within his reach on the coffee table, he would crack his toes between fits
of laughter and occasionally attempt to educate me about the skillfully
inserted spoofs on "The Empire Strikes Back" and other features he
considers essential for a solid grasp on American movie culture. At some
point he even stopped the DVD and went back a few frames to point out one
of the guest stars who I, in my ignorance, had completely overlooked—Heimlich, the caterpillar from "A Bugs Life." Thus it went on and on
throughout the movie, the bloopers, and various other DVD bonus features.
But eventually all good things must come to an end. And while I still don't
get the appeal of animated movies—my favorite part was the lamp trampling
the 'i' in the Pixar logo—it was the funniest Saturday night I've had in
a while. I'm actually thinking I might have to get him the "Bugs Life" DVD
for Christmas.
The person editing this column knows what he's getting for Christmas.
