my life as a zucchini

last saturday we saw the ninjago movie. it was loud and funny, full of action and emotion as lloyd garmadon battles his evil father, lord garmedon, with the help of his secret ninja force. this was a guaranteed hit with max + knox who had been pumped to see the third installment of the lego movie franchise since their first billboard sigting. after the movie we walked around hollywood a bit and stopped at umami for a late dinner (impossible burgers!) we were all smiles as the boys colored and scooped globs of ketchup into their mouths with french fries.

knox fell asleep on the way home (it was almost 9 at that point) and for once we successfully transferred him to bed without waking him up. max on the other hand was up. not wide awake but not ready to call it a night either. I FEEL YOU MAX. he remained cautiously quiet as to not remind us that he too should be getting to sleep. without words josh and i agreed to let him stay up with us while we watched our own highly anticipated film, "my life as a zucchini." we viewed the trailer earlier that day and max seemed into it. so we changed into our pajamas, broke out a pint of pistachio ice cream and molded into the couch as one and learned the story of zucchini, a troubled young boy with blue hair who accidentally killed his alcoholic mother. it was soft-spoken and funny, slow going and uneventful... basically an armful of oxymoron's that charmed the pj's off us.

zucchini's real name is icarus but goes why the vegetable nickname given to him by his mother. he builds pyramids from her many discarded beer cans and flies a kite outside his window with a drawing of a superhero who depicts his absent father. i hesitate to say too much, but given that the story is about a boy who goes to live in an orphanage, you can guess what happens next... and i really feel like i have to sell this to those of you who haven't seen this.

zucchini is taken to a group home with other kids like himself, kids from abusive homes. the facts are sad but the telling somehow is not. it just isn't. this really is a movie about healing and hope.

and then camille shows up, and zucchini is smitten.

plus, for an orphanage, the place isn't so bad. in fact, it's quite loving. the kids become a family. they truly understand one another. and they go on a ski trip! i want to go on a ski trip!

from start to finish this movie was just a joy. frankly, i haven't stopped thinking about it and will watch this movie many times, maybe even tonight. as for our little viewer max, i'm not sure if he was really in it for the green ice cream, or getting to stay up past bedtime. maybe it was zucchini's blue hair and his superhero kite. but i know he liked it. he really liked it. he said as much when i asked him. he also never once asked to change it to transformers, which would have crushed me a little bit. because i think i loved it even more watching it with him.

xoxo,

sony