Did they really all talk like that?

I have been on a quest to find some good movies for my family to watch together (Me, Wife, son (8), and daughter (5). It's not an easy task. I know some parents let their kids watch Alien, or Heat, or Nightmare on Elmstreet, but we feel that stuff is a bit too "mature" for our kids to have to deal with right now. The real news is bad enough.

So I went to the library.

Side note here: My public library is incredible. Their catalog of movies, books on tape, video games, and of course books, is second to none. They offer a lot of relevant seminars and activities for all ages. And it's all free. Yes free. ;)

I thought it would be great to try out a few movies that the kids might like without getting hit up $3.99 each from Blockbuster.

Remembering back to the weekly ritual of spending Sunday afternoon at my Nana's house (amazing Italian cooking for dinner....YUM!) and watching The Wonderful World of Disney on a 10 inch black and white TV while the adults played Bridge, I thought "I wonder if those Kurt Russell "Dexter Reilly" movies are on DVD. You know "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" and "The Strongest Man in the World" and such. And the library did have them! Excellent.

I picked "The Strongest Man in the World" because I thought it would make a good intro for my kids. You know, with the blue special formula spilling on the cereal which turned it into a hyperactive bowl of rice crispies, then the smoke cloud, and them whammo! Strength!

The other movie I picked was "Around the World in 80 Days". I admit I have never seen this movie, but I had always wanted to. With 5 academy awards, it had to be good (right?)

Cool. I got my movies.

We popped some popcorn - a ritual that my kids have come to love, even expect, when the DVD player gets fired up.

They were all excited to sit down for a movie, up until they found out the movies were "old".

Uh oh.

My son explained to me that he didn't like watching "old" movies because everybody talked the same. It took me a second to understand what he was talking about. I want to point out here that "The Strongest Man in the World" was made in 1975, 2 years before "Star Wars" which my kids love.

Ok, so I figured I knew what my son meant when he said that everybody talks the same in "old" movies and I proceeded to do my best impression of the guy reporting the eyewitness account of the Hindenburg disaster and asked him if that's what he meant.

Sure enough, that's what he was getting at.

Unphased, I started the movie anyway because I knew for a fact that this wasn't how they sounded in this movie.

The first scene is in the Dean's office with Joe Flynn and Harold Gould, and I'll be damned if they didn't have that "old timey" sound to the way they delivered their lines. I couldn't believe it.

My kids eyes glazed over, and sure there were some things in it that they laughed at, but they became disengaged by the time A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero - The Joker himself!) got out of prison.

Strike one.

We have yet to watch "Around the World in 80 Days" but I am guessing there will be more of the same dialog and delivery.

I'll let you know. :)