Hermione's Yule Ball

The fog has been thick and lingering long in Spokane lately, making for ideal conditions in which to venture out to see the newest Harry Potter movie. My husband and I went to the 6:40 pm showing last Saturday night at the Imax Theatre. We got our tickets an hour early, and pe0ple were already lined up to be the first ones in the theatre. We left and got some calzones at a small local pizza place, and got back in just enough time to get the last two seats in the last row. Seeing it on the Imax was definitely the way to go, and although my husband has read none of the HP books and only see some of the first movie (he fell asleep!), he still enjoyed it. My favorite scene was the Yule Ball, and it was nice to not see fat Dudley or Harry's muggle aunt and uncle.

It is definitely not a kid movie. "Sequences of Fantasy Violence and Frightening Images" make it PG-13. Of course, that didn't stop some Spokane parents from taking their small children. The four-year-old sitting in front of us was riveted and scared at various points during the movie. Poor little boy is still probably having nightmares. I understand that some parents feel like they are doing the right thing, but really...that little child probably would not have cared if his brother saw the movie and he didn't. I was especially surprised that when we exited the movie at 9:20 pm, there are so many children in line with their parents waiting for the 10:00 showing. Dressed in pajamas, I wonder how many actually stayed awake for the entire 2-1/2 hour lenght of the film. Again, these parents were probably acting more out of their own selfish interests than their children. May I remember this when I'm a parent someday.