Monday, June 15, 2015

Popcorn and Velociraptors


You know exactly what I'm talking about.  The smell of popcorn, Coke, and Twizzlers.  The hushed murmurs and nervous chuckles.  The lights go down and the previews begin.  That's a magical moment right there.

More than twenty years ago, I stood in a line that wrapped all the way around the block of that theater (pictured above), and waited for what was to become one of my most cherished childhood memories.  Jurassic Park.  A blockbuster in the truest sense of the word.

I had the vague notion that the movie was about dinosaurs.  I didn't know much more, except that at some point, a goat would meet a bloody and untimely demise.  I knew the movie might be scary, but I was ready for it.

Boy, were my nerves in for a treat.  I was about nine years old at the time, and I don't think anything in my life prior to that date could have prepared me for what I was about to see.

I remember there was a girl sitting next to me in the packed auditorium.  I didn't know the girl and she didn't know me, but we held each other and screamed in terror all the same.

That night was pure bliss.  A benchmark by which I would forever measure experiences at the movie theater.

I wrote about this experience here, but I'm writing about it again today because I was able to relive that experience with my own kids this last weekend.  We sat there together in the packed auditorium, watching the rampaging dinosaurs with awe and wonder.  We laughed at the jokes, screamed during the scary parts, and enjoyed the magic of it all.

And that is exactly why Jurassic World shattered the box office this last weekend.  It took me (and countless others) back to the Summer of 1993, and made us feel like kids again.

So here's to memories.  Here's to nostalgia.  Here's to popcorn and velociraptors.