101 Dalmatians

Home Ed for us involves a lot of Media Studies. Media Studies involves a comfy sofa and eating a lot of popcorn!
I used to see flopping on the sofa with the children watching a film as cheating, a lazy way to spend the afternoon, not at all 'Educational'. It was a slightly slovenly habit which I kept very quiet about. Then I came across Brave Writer and found not only permission, but positive encouragement to indulge in movie watching.
So most weeks we watch a film. Last week it was the 1961 version of 101 Dalmatians which we thoroughly enjoyed: a bit of a classic but I couldn't help thinking it showed its age. This week, we watched the 1996 version which I loved. I must confess, I was expecting to be disappointed, to find that a lovely, old-fashioned favourite had been up-dated and ruined. But it was brilliant: faithful, even respectful, to the original with a generous sprinkling of references to its predecessor (some snatches of dialogue being identical). The slapstick was hilarious, which made my three laugh out loud and there were some witty jokes too. (My favourite: Cruella: What kind of sycophant are you? Minion: What kind of sycophant would you like me to be?) I explained to the children a little about the famous actors in the film, we discussed the early clues to how the plot might end, we wondered if dalmatians really are born white, we chatted about how the live-action was made to have a cartoon feel and commented on the computer graphics and the stunts. After the film, a dog book was pulled of the shelf and we discovered that dalmatians can have liver coloured spots too. An old dalmatian toy was dug out and off they went to play dogs. This morning in the library my middle son found the book, very keen we bring it home as a 'chapter book' (although it will have to wait 'til September now). In fact, lots was talked about, lots was learned, and the popcorn tasted great too!