Date Night: "Onward" Edition

I know I haven't posted in a while, things got a little chaotic for me, but I'm trying to get back on track with things now.  So, that includes more blog posts.  Last night, Bryan and I saw Pixar's latest movie, Onward, and we both enjoyed it.

Let's start with our dinner beforehand.  I normally just gloss over this part, but we had to change up our routine a little bit (we're creatures of habit when it comes to certain things).  Normally when we go to the movies in Rockville we go to Gordon Biersch for dinner beforehand.  Unfortunately, Gordon Biersch closed down, so we're both pretty disappointed with that.  Instead, we opted to try World of Beer, which is right across the street from the movie theatre.  We'd been there before, and thought it was alright, so we decided to give it one more chance.  I'm glad we did, as it was much better this time around.  Since we got there at the tail end of happy hour, we opted for more mainstream beers for our first round.  I got Alagash White, which I love but don't drink too often.  For my second beer, I got Secret Llama Blueberry Wheat Ale.  Now, my mom gets this blueberry beer from Rhode Island, and she absolutely loves it, but whenever I drink it, I don't taste the blueberry.  That was not the case with Secret Llama.  It had this wonderful blueberry taste, and they even added some blueberries to the glass.  I would definitely drink it again.  In fact, I think I'm going to see if I can get my hands on it at home.  I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy fruit-flavored beers.

One of the reasons we enjoyed going to Gordon Biersch so much was the giant pretzel, although they got rid of the bacon sauce and changed up the cheese sauce lately, so it wasn't as big of a hit with us.  World of Beer has a giant pretzel too, so we decided to get it.  I don't like mustard, but Bryan said the mustard was really good.  When he tried the cheese, however, he immediately fell in love.  It was beer cheese, which is always good in my book, but, this time, it had a little kick to it, a little like queso, but it was beer cheese.  The kick wasn't overwhelming, just every once in a while you'd get some of it, and it added something different to the sauce.  Needless to say, we've found a pretty good replacement for Gordon Biersch for when we go to the movies in Rockville.

After a delicious dinner, we headed to the movie theatre.  There were so many trailers.  I mean, I expected quite a few, just not half an hour's worth.  Oh, and a short with Maggie from The Simpsons (Bryan pointed out that there was no talking during the short, as the voice actors cost a ton of money).  It was a cute little short where Maggie meets a boy she has a crush on at the park, and, of course, nothing goes as planned, especially when Homer's suddenly put in charge of taking her to the park.  It was cute, although I found it interesting that they had a Simpson's short during a Disney movie, but that's not my decision to make.  It could be worse, it could be Family Guy.

Okay, enough rambling, now to talk about the movie.  For those of you who don't know what Onward's about, it follows two brothers, Barley and Ian, who are elves but live in a world where technology has replaced magic.  So, you have all the mystical creatures you'd expect in a fantasy movie, but they're doing day to day jobs just like us normal people.  On Ian's 16th birthday, they're given a gift from their father, who died from some illness before Ian was born; it's a magic wand and a spell that can bring their father back for twenty-four hours.  Of course, the boys are thrilled, especially Ian, who never actually met his father.  As can be expected, things don't go exactly as planned, and only half of their dad is brought back (from the waist down).  There's the possibility of getting another one of the gems needed to power the magic wand to bring their dad back, so they set off on a quest.  For Barley, this is his dream.  He's obsessed with role playing this game that's based on what life was like for his world before they stopped using magic.  Therefore, he sees himself as an expert on quests as magic, although he has a habit of acting like a fool, so no one takes him seriously.  His heart is always in the right place though.

When I first saw the teaser for this movie, without really knowing the plot, I thought it looked amazing.  I mean, you have fantasy creatures who have lost the ability to do magic, fly, etc., just living normal, boring lives.  When I saw the first full length trailer, I thought it looked alright, but I was definitely less excited about it, as I didn't really like the plot.  I still wanted to see it though, and I'm definitely glad we did.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and Bryan seemed to enjoy it a lot as well.

One thing I really liked about this movie was how these fantastical creatures have lost the ability to do magic as they became more reliant on technology.  It honestly reminded me a lot of the world today.  With technology, people have forgotten how to sew, cook, make things with their hands, etc.  At the end of the movie, however, there was a definite shift as characters wanted to get back to their roots and learn what had been forgotten over time.  This also reminds me of today.  Quite a few times in my 7th period especially, they get upset because they're not being taught how to sew, cook, build things, etc.  They tell me that they want to learn that.  One student even said, "I heard there used to be a class where they taught you that stuff.  Why did they get rid of it?"  I couldn't agree with them more.  Yes, we live in a society driven by technology, so those skills are important, but that doesn't mean we have to forgo learning how to do things with our hands as well.  Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.

When it comes to the movie, I also loved the focus on brotherly relationships.  Lately (meaning the past 20 years or so), Disney has really focused on sisterly relationships, with the only exception being Brother Bear, which is an amazing movie.  Onward focuses on the relationship between Barley and Ian as they try to navigate life together and even mourn their father's death together.  What I enjoyed most about that was the fact that both Barley and Ian weren't afraid to show their emotions; they cried, got angry and laughed with each other.  The focus of the movie wasn't really about getting their dad back for 24 hours but rather the growth and evolution of their relationship.

I want to talk more about this movie, but I'm worried it'll get into some spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie or don't want to read spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.

That ending was rough for me, I'm not going to lie.  There were definitely some moments that hit close to home for me, and I think it's just the timing of it all.  Had I seen this movie a year ago, it would have been sad, but I would have been fine.  With my dad passing, however, it all hit very close to home.  I think Bryan sensed that, as he kept squeezing my hand during certain parts. 

The scene where Barley talks to Ian about how he didn't go say goodbye to their dad in the hospital was difficult for me.  I almost didn't go see my dad that last day in the hospital before he took a turn for the worse, but now I'm so glad I did (we didn't know that that was his last day at the time).  I can understand where Barley was coming from, though, as it can be incredibly difficult to see a loved one like that, but it can also be incredibly difficult to live with the guilt of not saying goodbye.  That's difficult enough for an adult, so imagine how difficult it must be for a child.

I do have to say, I'm glad Ian gave Barley that chance to say goodbye.  How they did it in the movie was perfect too.  I thought it was great that you didn't hear specifically what they talked about but instead had Barley recount it later, it gave him a chance to show what was important to him from that conversation.

The other part of the end that I loved was when Ian realized that while he didn't have his dad with him to grow up, he still had Barley, who stepped up and filled in that roll early on, despite the fact that he was young when his dad died.  It was a wonderful moment when Ian realized that he had a male figure to look up, and while it might not have been his dad, it was still someone who loved him and cared for him immensely. 

Overall, I thought that this was a fantastic Disney movie.  It captured the whimsicalness of Disney films and the importance of family in a way that hasn't been done before.  Even though it's not doing as well in the box office as people anticipated, I still hope this isn't the last we've heard from Ian and Barley.