Cinemagic

Turns out that going to the movies is expensive everywhere, or at least in my reference countries of the U.S. and China. Today, I saw The Secret of the Magic Gourd, a Disney production for the Chinese market. (If it were for kids in the U.S., it’d be called something like Gourdansformers: the Third World’s End.) The movie tickets were 40 RMB each, or about $5.50 USD. This would be cheap by US standards, but considering the much lower per capita income (on the order of $260 to $400 a month), this is some expensive form of entertainment! Throw in 20 RMB (~5% of your monthly income), and you get a Nestle’s ice cream, a sausage on a stick, and a tub of popcorn. I had already eaten a very large dinner, but my uncle and aunt insisted on purchasing two sets of snacks for the three kids (we’re aged 17 to 22). Yikes.

The movie was cute, as expected. I was initially worried about falling asleep since the film had a target audience between the ages of 6 and 12. However, the limited literacy of the intended viewers actually did me worlds of good since my Chinese language skills leave much to be desired (say, such as the ability to read). Really, a 3rd grader is more literate than I am. Sadness.

During my outing to the movies, I also learned that certain films that pretty much flopped in the U.S., such as Garfield and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, actually were extremely popular here in China upon release. Garfield, in particular, was eviscerated my American critics (to make violins?) and ignored by American moviegoers (we like our 2-D cartoon Garfield, thank you). Meanwhile, it appears to have been one of my aunt’s and my cousin’s favorite movies in recent years. Now they just need to re-release Gigli in China, and maybe Jennifer Lopez’s acting career will get a second wind. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy Selena 2: Resurrection dubbed into Mandarin?