Sweet and Cheesy Spiders
Every year on Mother’s Day — for the last few years anyway — I’ve let my sons take me to an action flick. That’s right. Not a chick flick. An action flick. I’ve seen Van Helsing, X-Men 2 & 3, both Spiderman movies and probably a couple others on Mother Days gone by. My sons love Mother’s Day. They think I’m the best mother in the world.
I can live with that.
Well, this year, we had Mother’s Day today, because my youngest will be on a school trip on the real deal and he didn’t want to miss it. You can’t blame the guy. We saw Spiderman 3, on opening day no less. And I have to say it wasn’t a bad way to spend time with my beloved heirs. Yeah, the movie was a little cheesy in places — it has to be. You can’t expect a script that calls the arachnid hero “Spidey”on occasion to be all business. And it’s got to appeal to eight-year-olds — who are notably big fans of Kraft singles.
I laughed in places where I’m not sure I was supposed to laugh. Like when Peter Parker goes Goth. (I don’t think that’s a spoiler. If you’ve seen the previews you’ve seen Spiderman in black)And there were a couple lines and scenes that were Velveeta-ish. (But I loved the scene in the French restaurant. It was funny and poignant at the same time. Chick-flicky!)
But the thing is, the plot of this movie — when you strip away the special effects, the chase scenes, the thrills — is all about forgiveness. That was the movie’s blessed sweet side. More than once the movie-watchers (that would be us) were told that revenge is a poison that kills from the inside out. And that you always have the choice to do the right thing. Always.
What mother doesn’t want her sons to learn that?