Why there are DVDs

I went to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" yesterday, along with Cinema Arsehole (tm Bad Wolf.) Now, come on, I expect when I go to a film like that, there are going to be loud noisy kids. I'm not stupid. But I didn't expect parents to let their preschool children sit wherever they wanted, alone, and wander around the dark theater at will. A brother and sister, about 3 and 4, came running down to sit in the very front row, without their parents. The theater was pretty crowded, and you know, it's dark, so I can't imagine what kind of parent doesn't want his/her child sitting with them. Forget the freaky child molestors, or the fact that your kid might get scared during the movie or something, it's just dangerous to let them run around in the dark. It started bothering me during the previews and at one point when the younger started racing past me, I leaned out to the aisle and said "Stay in your seat." Probably not the most appropriate thing to do, but it kept me from sticking out a foot and tripping her.

(No, I'm not really that evil. But sometimes when parents let their kids run wild I wonder if they think of the potential consequences. When I worked at Macy's years ago, a mother kept letting her toddler climb freely all over the glass shirt cubes, despite our telling her it wasn't a really good idea. Sure enough, not long after, the kid fell and smashed his face against the glass. We brought them to the store nurse, who called for an ambulance, since it looked like the kid needed stitches. On the way out to the parking lot to meet the ambulance, the mother stopped back in our department to finish buying a polo shirt. With her bandaged bloody kid crying in her arms. Seriously.)

Eventually the dad came down and sat with his kids, but they still kept running between the front row and wherever their mother was behind me, and he basically ignored them. The mother walked down a few times, also. (I can't tell you exactly how often, but when I see the movie again I'll be able to, as those would be the parts of the movie I missed.)