The Incredibles

Kids can commonly become obsessive about their favorite movies. It can be annoying when they request the same video again and again. It can also be amusing in the reactions it brings about in them.

When the boy was two years old it was the animated movie Dinosaur (2000) that caught his attention. He couldn’t talk yet, so when he wanted to watch it he’d point to the tv and roar like a dinosaur. Then he discovered Toy Story (1995) starring the animated character Buzz Lightyear. He was just starting to talk, but was not yet flourishing in that regard. The guy couldn’t say his name so he’d ask to watch a ‘bideo’ and say that he wanted ‘Bee’, that’s what he called Buzz. As his speaking skills matured he was later able to muster up ‘Bud Lightyear’.

Our daughter’s favorites have been Monsters, Inc. (2001) (you know, she likes monsters), Candyland the movie, and anything with Hello Kitty. Monsters, Inc. is a good film, but the others, oh boy, the theme music’s enough to make me cringe. Too bad for the boy, though. When it’s her turn to choose the video with snack before bed he’s got little other recourse than to watch it or walk away.


2005

Our daughter was just a baby when the movie The Incredibles (2004) came out on DVD. The characters in the movie fit our family’s configuration just right what with Mr. Incredible (dad), Elastigirl (mom), Violet (older sister - we haven’t got one of these but the dog filled in), Dash (the boy), and Jack Jack (the baby). Our son assigned us all the corresponding name of the movie characters. The dog alternated between Violet and Frozone (another superhero from the film).

Pretty nice when my boy was calling me Mr. Incredible. Put a little boost in my step. After a week or two, though, he got bored and wanted to mix things up. He started calling me Bob Parr, Mr. Incredible’s street name.

Oh, well. What’re you gonna do?
-parr


[Postscript: The Incredibles and Toy Story are great films and both have standing amongst my Top 99 favorite movies. Honest.]