The Number Three Movie

I watched 2 movies this weekend.
Well technically I watched more television but if it is a partial movie, like Sands of Iwo Jima or Lover Come Back, I won't count that.
On Saturday night I rented Becoming Jane. Has anyone else seen it?
Now I have to say that I am not a huge Jane Austen fan, but I do know a bit about her life.
This movie seemed to be about a woman who happened to be named Jane and who happened to live during a particular period than actually being a semi-biography about Jane Austen. First I thought the casting was off. Jane Austen has always struck me as being particularly tiny and Anne Hathaway, while beautiful, is not petite. James McAvoy, her costar, however, is petite so I kept watching how they paired the two of them up and changed some of the cinematography to accomodate their difference in height. The Virgo in me was irritated by tiny details like that.
So the movie was okay, but like I said, more as if it were some sort of period romance than an actual adaptation of events in Jane Austen's life.
The second movie I saw this weekend - in IMAX - was The Spiderwick Chronicles.

That movie was a lot of fun.
Sure Freddie Highmore's voice can be irritating, especially when he uses an American accent, but I'm sure that will change once his voice changes and you know that kid is an amazing actor.
Now I've never read any of the books so I had no idea what the story was about before we went into the theater, but did I enjoy the movie! And at IMAX the light is strong enough to knit by so I worked on my kerchief from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
How about that, eh.
As I said I've never read the books but I did stop and buy book one on the way home. It took me about 20 minutes to read - c'mon, it's children's literature - but it is a well-told story with wonderful illustrations. And if I judge the movie based upon just this first book they really did not change the film so much that it makes it unrecognizable. Even better is the fact that there are five books in the series and this movie encompasses all five. Kind of nice. No need for a sequel.
Sure there were times when I knew exactly what was going to happen, but that happens in a lot of movies.
Bottomline - I was entertained from start to finish. Never a dull moment, I assure you.
So go see it, I cannot recommend it enough.
Unless you have small children, and then you might want to know that there are parts that are a bit scary, but the ending is happy.
And you'll cry a bit.
Well I did.
(Oh, and it was number 3 at the box office this weekend, hence the title of my post, in case any of you were wondering.)