Had a bit of a muddle when we first left the house. Stopped at the local store for allergy meds for Di, got up to the counter, and discovered she'd left her wallet at home. Luckily, we had JUST enough to cover it all, so back to the house we went. On to get some food and kick back, and then off to the movie.
I gotta say, it was even better than I expected. Even Jim Carrey was good, and that's something you will almost NEVER hear me say. The kids were great, the visuals were perfect, and the script was good. I only had two real complaints about it, well, 2 1/2. One, I hated the little modern touches that kept getting thrown into it. A keyring car-door lock remote...walkie-talkies...reference to The Karate Kid, etc.; these things were JARRINGLY out of place, and were unnecessary. Each time they came up, they could have easily been replaced with something that actually fit the era. That annoyed me. Also, the youngest child is not even a year old, and only talks in baby-babble, but her "speech" is translated into subtitles. now, when I played the game (and what little I remember of the books...haven't read them in years), her speech was translated into proper Queen's English, very formal and grammatically correct. In the movie, she came off more like a member of Generation Y (as in "why can't they use their brains"). That, too, was incongruous and unnecessary. A couple tiny complaints: a long-lost letter is mentioned in the film, and at the end, the letter mysteriously arrives (delivered to a crumbling ruin of a burned-out house? I don't think so), and they are all surprised by the contents, even though the senders (their parents) had returned long ago, and thus they would have already known what the letter said (which is how they knew the letter had been sent)...so that was odd. Also, they brought up the conspiratorial group that all these adults belonged to, and kept touching on it, but in the end just let it fall without any hint of explanation...should have just left that out, I feel. All that said, I did really enjoy the flick. Well done.
Also, I bought my bike today. Triax VBX3000, 21 speed, aluminum frame, not bad at all. Should do me just fine for what I need it for. In fact, got a good enough deal on it that I was able to get Di a bike, too, so she can ride with me and get some exercise, as well.
Gotta go get some dinner, methinks.