This last weekend, I had the honor of showing my nieces J and J one of the Star Wars movies. I didn't know that it was going to be up to me to show them the movies, or else I would have brought down my entire collection of movies and SW toys for them to go through. As it was, we had to go rent one of the SW movies from Blockbuster. I find it no coincidence that the only SW movie that wasn't already checked out was Ep. I.

--tangent--
on the way out of the parking lot, my mom almost hit this parked SUV. It was pretty funny.
--tangent over--

So we head over to my grandmother's house to watch the movie on the comfort of her nice big couches and living room chairs.

It was really weird watching a SW movie with someone who had never seen a SW movie before. Everything was new and surprising to them. I'm not quite sure if they all the way enjoyed it or not, but they seemed to be having a great time. If you ever wonder why Lucas put Jar Jar in the movie, watch the movie with someone under the age of 8.

For some reason, they incessantly asked when Jabba the Hutt was going to make his entrance. I'm not sure if they thought he was one of the main characters of the saga, or if they were anticipating being scared of the big slug, but I kept assuring them that his appearance was coming up. Since Jabba's only in Ep. I for all of 5 minutes, I told them that if they wanted to see more, they'd have to make it all the way to Ep VI some evening. I think they're curious and up for the task.

Halfway through the movie, my niece J put on a backwards white Oxford shirt, and put her hair into Princess Leia buns. The creativity of those two kids never ceases to amaze me.

They also made sure to ask me repeatedly to tell them when "scary stuff" comes up. Surprisingly, the stuff that should have scared them (Darth Maul, the Emperor), didn't scare them at all. Some of the tamer stuff seemed to scare them a little bit.

With that being said, I think that the older movies may be scarier than the newer movies. Darth Vader and his breathing can be pretty intense for a kid...but in a good way. I think a little scary stuff never hurt anyone.

I gotta get back to work.

matt out