Yesterday, AbC and I went to The Rave, now a Carmike Cinema, to see The Croods. I learned a few things about the new cinema company:

• GOOD: They offer a super matinee price between the hours of 4:00-6:00PM, though I’m not sure on what days other than Sundays, so tickets are $5.50 each. Sure, this is the price I used to pay for a full-priced ticket when I was in high school, but to avoid sounding like a crotchety old man I’ll move on and be grateful for the reasonably priced movie ticket.
• BAD: The Rave, when managed by its parent company, Rave Cinemas and not Carmike, offered cheaper concessions. They also offered big containers off Kernel Season’s popcorn “shaky stuff,” which Carmike is no longer offering. So, now I’ll have to “roll my own” and bring a container of white cheddar with me.

As for the movie, this wasn’t DreamWorks Animation’s best effort. It was cute though likely *way* off describing with any sense of accuracy human evolution and the way in which the world was physically changing. The scenery at times reminded me of Pandora from Avatar and less of what I imagine the evolving world to have looked like. But, once I cleared these hurdles I enjoyed the movie rather thoroughly because my company was superb sharing with me her Swedish Fish and doing a magnificent job of holding and sharing the popcorn. It’s hard for me to be disappointed with a movie because I go more for the shared experience than for the movie.

If you’re a parent and you’re looking for a fun movie that might actually get your kid to ask some questions about the origins of the world and the species we live among today then I recommend going to see The Croods. If you live in the Valley, I recommend making the trip to The Rave or wait until it comes to The Roxy in Northampton where tickets are $3.00 each and concessions are *a lot* cheaper than the cineplexes.