The Incredible Mr. Limpet

About a year ago...long before either of my kids could sit and watch a full length movie in one sitting, I rented Mary Poppins for them. I hadn't watched it in years, the movie has kid likable items in it, ie, other kids, frisky songs, absurdities, like floating if you laugh scenes, etc, AND it offers real life imagery in combination with cartoon caricatures. So, I popped into the DVD player, and for the first time, both of the kids watched this movie in its entirety. However, because they were still a little too young, the magic wore off by the 2nd viewing and they were up and running after Mary Poppins made her appearance and sung "A Spoonful of Sugar".

I had almost forgotten their fascination with Mary Poppins and because I had rented it, we [obviously] didn't own it. On this last trip to the States, I tried to think of all kinds of things to buy for each of us that are hard to find in China. Any english speaking movie, book or video game took the top of my list of things to buy and bring back. While I was perusing the video store back home as well as the video sections of almost any store that had them, I remembered the popularity of Mary Poppins of way back when and decided to give it another go...and bought it this time.

Another movie that popped up into view, was The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Remember that one? I remember loving it myself when I was a kid...mostly because it had the dual imagery of real life characters and cartoon caricatures. So, again, I took a chance that my boys would like it and bought it to bring back to China.

OMG! It was so funny!! They LOVED it! Who would have thought?! They were riveted the entire movie! The whole movie is about things boys would like...big Navy ships, loud sonic booms, underwater scenes, sunken ships, torpedoes, submarines, talking hermit crabs and OF COURSE...the dual imagery! I think this movies supersedes the imagery of Mary Poppins. Where Mary Poppins is full of fanciful characters and the cartoons are just as fanciful...Mr. Limpet applies real life scenes in addition to the cartoon imagery of real life characters. Again, they absolutely LOVED it! Just when the movie was in trouble of turning dull...there would be a LOUD sonic boom or a torpedo boom that would quickly get their attention again. hahaha Too funny...

Although, I had a hard time explaining a few things about the movie. Things like, "why do the American ships want to hurt the German submarines?", and "HOW did he turn into a fish?", and "why can he make that loud sound?", and "why are they looking for the submarines?" and "why do the submarines want to hurt Mr. Limpet?", and "why is Mr. Limpet helping the Navy to kill the German submarines?"

Aaaaggghhhh! How does one explain war again? Unfortunately, Daddy was not around this time to help field some of these questions. But, I got through many of them by emitting the standard "mom grunt/slur of words" and then excitedly pointing to the the TV again. hahaha Most of the time, it worked. However, my inquisitive 5-year old wouldn't let me slide on all of them as he kept asking the same question throughout the movie until he was thoroughly satisfied. He's such a little bugger...hahaha Literally. ;-)

Anyone have any other good suggestions for movies that have that dual imagery?