Ant-Man Very Late Review

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Like a baby firecracker that hits you in the face with a big, glorious boom kind of surprise. Yep.

To be honest, I had very little faith in Ant-Man, pardon the pun. But him being one of the not-too-popular characters of the Marvel universe (at least, in my universe), I didn't think much of him. In fact, I even tried to convince my kids that we didn't need to watch his debut movie. The only reason why we still did was because my train-crazy son saw Thomas the Tank Engine in the trailer and got all pumped to see that part --and that part alone. That and my other son was craving for movie popcorn. So before I knew it, we were running to catch Ant-Man on its last week.

And it was a whirlwind on fun!

The plot wasn't exactly new. You know… awesome technology. Bad guy plans to use it as a weapon for war. But its nanotechnology so it makes it more special.
The real backbone of the story was this though --FAMILY. How you sacrifice, do stupid things, create little mistakes that lead to huge cracks for the sake of the people you love. Now THAT'S special.

What really got us going for this film, however, was the brilliant use of comedy. Scott/Ant-Man was hilarious. And so was his best friend schemer, Luis, whom I have to say was my favourite character in the entire film.

We also like how The Avengers was seamlessly woven into the film. From Doctor Pym openly saying how he wouldn't want Tony Stark to get his hands on his nano-invention. From Ant-Man stealing a valuable equipment from The Avengers secret facility. And from the inch-high hero actually duking it out with Falcon.

In other news, my 14-year old science geek was more into learning about the different kinds of ants, which the movie introduced with the funniest of circumstances --(that and how to crack open a safe using plain household tape and/or liquid nitrogen). While my 11-year old train geek couldn't get over the fact that Thomas the Tank Engine had so much airtime. Educational and Entertaining! Ant-Man is quite a package.

All in all, Ant-Man is an exciting, laugh-a-minute ride!
If, like me, you've been having doubts on its cinematic greatness… bite your tongue. And run to the movie house nearest you. You still have a few days to catch this little bugger.

There's Something About Thomas

I don't know a single boy who didn't go through the Thomas phase.  All boys love Thomas the Tank Engine!  It's so natural it's almost genotypical.   Some grow out of it (like Miro has), and some seem to make it part of their lives (like Kenji does).

Like all kids, Kenji's first Thomas exposure was on Disney Channel.  But the first Thomas he's ever called his own was the battery-operated Thomas and Whistle toy.  You whistle once to make Thomas move forward, and twice to make Thomas go on reverse.

Growing bolder, his next Thomas came with the popular blue tracks along with a station and bridge set up.  This is a good creative tool because you can build the tracks according to your liking.  This maintains to be Kenji's favorite.

Years passed and Kenji's Thomas world has started to branch out into books and DVD movies, including a Japanese DVD that's pretty much useless audio-wise.  Thank God for easy-to-understand images, the storytelling still got across fine.

Permutations like this hideous Thomas the Trainsformer toy followed.  It's a knock-off.  An abomination.  It died a few hours after purchase from a dime store.

Older and wiser now,  Kenji's taste has moved up.  Now, he's going for metal die-cast Thomas characters.  We have a whole fleet and more pieces should come in the future.

And even when he says he wants a Nerf Gun, a  Zhu-Zhu pet, or a full-scale Hot Wheels race track for Christmas --as soon as he sees the Thomas and Friends department in Toy Kingdom-- something in him clicks and thwarts the original plan.  We just bought the latest in the Thomas franchise --the Take-n-Play Thomas that folds into a handy case and unfolds to connect with a variety of other Take-n-Play Thomases.

Every now and then, Kenji would shift to other toys, but we're pretty sure Thomas is here to stay.  Not because Kenji hasn't matured.  But because he's evolved from a train-loving toddler to a sophisticated toy collector!  (eherm...)

Can you imagine him as an old, wrinkly man polishing vintage trains in a dark basement?  I can.