I have been catching up on children’s movies through netflix. We had planned to catch Bolt in the theater last year, but it was gone before we got around to it. Then I put UP in the queue before Bolt, for whatever reason. I think I was scared that Bolt wouldn’t live up to its great trailer.

I shouldn’t have worried. Bolt was so funny I was just laughing for great stretches of it. Curtis had to turn it up so we could hear the dialog over the giggles. And the kids were even laughing. That’s really rare for a movie to make us all laugh. There is usually someone scared, but not this time.

And, incredibly, everyone could follow the story! Usually, my four little ones don’t have a clue what’s going on. I sometimes wonder why I even bother trying to show them a kiddie movie if they don’t understand the plot. But they got Bolt, even when the movie was trying to trick them with the blurring between the real and the TV world.

And I have got to get me a Hamtari like Rhino. He has got to be the most perfect sidekick ever. And I wasn’t mad at them when they borrowed the storyline from both Toy Story movies, because I loved the Toy Story movies, and because Bolt never veered from the cute, funny, truly family friendly spirit.

UP, on the other hand, was very uneven. The beginning of the movie was very touching. The second half was weird, and the end was abrupt. The middle part reminded me of Ice Age or Over the Hedge with all the slapstick madcap chasing scenes. They just didn’t fit with the great visual storytelling at the beginning. And UP scared my very sensitive child, so that’s a minus.

Next I’ll put Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in my queue next. The kids love that book, although I don’t care for it. We’ll see how they like the movie version.