-- movie FAIL (but really, win)

Bolt consulting with pigeons.

So tonight we set out to go see "Four Christmases" since that's usually us at the holidays: trying to visit multiple households in one small 24-hour period. We raced home from work, got some Japanese takeout which I stuffed in my purse (trust me, not easy... but I DID fit everything but the miso soup which had to be smuggled in under my jacket), rushed into the building and bought tickets. I tried to act as normal as possible while speedwalking, like maybe I was pregnant and just awkward, not really holding a pint of steaming liquid spilling all over the inside of my clothes.

We got to the theatre only a few minutes late. But something was wrong. People were pouring out the doors. I thought "omg! The movie must be terrible! Look at all these people walking out!" But then I realized somehow we screwed up the dates. Tonight's real start time was an hour later and there we were, standing in the hallway with dinner and no place to eat it. People started to stare. I thought, "Ah whatever. Let's just duck into another theatre and chow down until our movie starts."

Only one other film was playing so we darted in. We slipped into the first row (not even knowing what it was) and got comfortable.

So what was playing? The movie Bolt. A 3D Disney flick. (I didn't even discover the name until about halfway through.) We sat through the entire showing sans special 3D glasses, squinting at the blurry screen and idly wondering why the theatre smelled like urine. At one point Dan leaned over. "Is someone ACTIVELY peeing right now? wtf?" There were only four people in the whole theatre all seated way up top so this mystery was never solved but we reported the stench afterwards and, in a startling display of responsive customer service, received two free tickets to return, the manager promising to have the area steam cleaned within days.

I kept cracking up -- the movie was good enough that the stench and blurriness (typically barriers to fun) did not chase us away. I'm not normally an animation or Disney kinda person but I enjoyed the flick. The pigeons sealed it. (If you see the movie, you'll know what I mean.)

Plus, Bolt looks like Tycho.

Tycho, Bolt's prototype maybe?

Four Christmases will wait for another day. Or maybe we'll hold out for the real-life version, showing in a few weeks.