Other Buffista parents - is 2-and-a-bit (26 months) too young to sit through a movie in a theatre?

Well, yes, but then I have a seven-and-a-half-year old who hasn't managed to sit an entire film out yet. We left after 30 minutes of "Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" at age 3-and-a-half. Managed 20 minutes of "Ratatouille" at 5-and-a-half. Held on for about 30 of "Kung-Fu Panda" at 6. He's a sensitive wee soul.

Actually, I'd say go for it, but expect to leave early and be pleasantly surprised if you don't have to. Also, do some prep - warn him about the biiiig screen, and the lights dimming before the show, and not talking too loud. And then, if it's obviously getting too much, don't hesitate and just go.

Good luck!

"But you have one like that", says Mom. "I think it's in the attic."

I've probably mentioned this before, but my folks were watching The Exorcist (on network TV) when I was, I dunno 8 or 9? At first I wasn't paying attention because it was boring. Then it got a little creepy, and I decided to stop watching and just read my book. Which meant I heard a lot of creepy stuff, and was free to imagine what was happening. And after a little bit of that, there was a commercial break, and I decided I should probably go read in my room now. But I think that "I should be elsewhere now" response tended to kick in when needed; I watched a fair amount of spooky TV shows and movies, and sometimes I didn't make it through the whole thing. But I don't think I ever had nightmares as a result, either.

I definitely agree with Matt about Eraserhead, though. I didn't have trouble sleeping afterwards, but I think that's the most freaked out I've ever been by, well, anything.

I like spooky, and scary, and even a certain amount of gross, but I have a fairly low threshhold for tension-tension-tension-BOO scenes. I suspect that it's the same reason I don't do roller-coasters; I can't tolerate the setup. Blair Witch was probably just about where my limits for that sort of thing are, actually.

Event Horizon grossed me out and scared me, but it's just an icky memory. Something that haunts me is a movie called Games, which I saw on TV some late Saturday night in high school, when I always stayed up after everyone else to see what there was to see (some weird movies got shown then). Anyway, this British couple is befriended by a weird woman who talks them into doing odder and odder things, and one of the things ends up with a corpse. And they encase the corpse in plaster and stand it up in the corner as part of their modern art collection. I have weird corpse issues, and the following scenes in the living room with that statue in the corner freaked me out more and more.

It dawned on me eventually that I started to scan every new room I entered to see if there was anything big enough to hide a corpse in before I could relax.

I'd say go for it, but expect to leave early and be pleasantly surprised if you don't have to.

I think this is going to be our plan. He will sit through all of Totoro on the couch, so my main concern with Ponyo is that he'll want to skip ahead to the catbus scene and not understand why that's not doable in a theatre.

Something that haunts me is a movie called Games, which I saw on TV some late Saturday night in high school, when I always stayed up after everyone else to see what there was to see (some weird movies got shown then). Anyway, this British couple is befriended by a weird woman who talks them into doing odder and odder things, and one of the things ends up with a corpse.

I saw that when I was fairly young too, and really enjoyed it. But the couple was James Caan and Katherine Ross, so not British.

Incidentally, it's basically an unofficial remake/update of Les Diaboliques (even down to casting Simone Signoret as the strange, older woman)

But the couple was James Caan and Katherine Ross, so not British.

Oh, OK. The older woman had a high class Northeastern accent that I remember as British.

Jessica- do a quick Google search to see if there is a theatre with "Mommy Movies" in your area. We have a local theatre where everyone brings their babies and if they cry no big deal because it's all moms.

Conversely, if you do go and have to leave due to fussiness- make sure you get a refund or a readmission ticket. If you don't watch the whole movie you shouldn't have to pay.

Those screenings are all midweek - I used to go to them while I was on maternity leave.

(So I guess technically Dylan has seen a couple of movies in theatres before, but I think if he was breastfeeding or asleep the entire time it doesn't really count.)

I can't remember the name of the movie, but when I was very young (think kindergarten age), my dad let me watch some late night horror movie that included an apparent dead person with rolled-up eyes rising out of a bathtub to menace someone. When I turned around to him for reassurance, he'd rolled his eyes back so only the whites were showing.

The next few years of getting waked up by me in the dead of night after a nightmare or just general can't-sleep-afraid-of-the-dark? Your own damn fault, Pops.

When I turned around to him for reassurance, he'd rolled his eyes back so only the whites were showing.

Oh! Not nice.