Well, it was supposed to be fun.....

Sometimes, movies just don't live up to the hype. For example, I was all hyped up to see The Final Destination (I could take or leave the 3-D) mainly based on a scene featured in the commercials and trailer where a girl appears to be doomed to die in an automated car wash. I couldn't stop thinking about just how you could possibly die in an automated car wash since it just seemed so improbable. So, using some free passes, I dragged a friend to an early Friday showing, shelled out two bucks for some very Devo-esque 3-D glasses (crack that whip!), and settled in to watch the sexy young adults succumb to the most ridiculous deaths every committed to film (The Final Destination series trademark, for the uninitiated). The scene arrived, the girl's car stopped in the car wash and a series of unlikely mishaps within the car wash seemed destined to culminate in her inching slowly towards killer brushes (seriously). But, as it turns out (SPOILER!) she didn't die in the car wash, she was saved at the last minute and end up dying later in the movie. What a let down.

All this brings me to another very much helped film that I met with excitement and my mom thought it would be fun to take me and some friends to. As you may have guessed, it was a disappointment, but I don't think anyone was as disappointed as my mom by what we saw.

My neighborhood friends and I used to love watching "Son of Godzilla" when we were little. Compared to other Godzilla movies, some of which my dad had shown me, "Son of Godzilla" was pretty silly and wasn't really "scary." It cracked us up to no end, and we would watch it in my basement, rewinding the best parts (back in the day with the good ole VCR). We kind of liked other Godzilla movies, but by far the one I remember best and enjoy the best is Son of Godzilla.

So then the fancy Godzilla remake came out in 1998, my mom thought it would be a great idea to take me and the gang to theater to see it. It had all sorts of hype leading up to it. 7/11 or Taco Bell drink cups with the "new Godzilla" on them, who was much more dinosaur and lizard-like than the classic Japanese version. I think there toys floating around too, as well as tons of commercials. By the day we went, we were pretty amped up.

We got in the theater and I remember that we ended up being pretty close to the screen for some reason (it could have been close to opening weekend, but I lack any kind of ticket stub to tell you the precise day. oh well). The other things I remember about the movie? Being bored out of my little skull. It just took forever to get to the monster, and then you only ever saw parts of it like a foot or the head. Only once did we see Godzilla in all its supposed glory, the Brooklyn bridge in a brief wideshot (meant to prove how big it was I suppose). I know kids are supposed to like action, but it just kind of left me numb with all sorts of car chases and running around New York from a thing we barely saw. I do remember getting a kick out of Jean Reno's character in the film, a mysterious French guy trying to cover up the Godzilla mess (or something. It didn't really matter in the long term with the movie since it was supposed to be "Godzilla!" and ended up being "oh, Godzilla.") He was what I remember chatting about the most with my mom after the fact.

The movie ended, I think with a "Godzilla had babies!" twist, and we just left the theater in a flurry of chatter, but I don't know that any of us really liked it. I know my mom didn't. It wasn't just that she's not terribly into action movies, but the fact was she was hugely disappointed that it wasn't more fun for all of us.

To this day if it somehow comes up in conversation she'll always say "Man, I just really thought it would be a fun movie for you guys. You guys used to cackle at those Godzilla movies in the basement. What a let down."