Milo and Otis and Sadness and Tears. Or, Movie Night.

The frightful weather of the past few days has kept us out of the pool and trapped in the house, with regular breaks for dog-walks and firefly-trapping at dusk. But boredom has set in, and in a moment of weakness I traded DVDs with a friend: my Fantasia for her Otis and Milo. I had medium-high hopes for Otis and Milo, for a child that lives in a TV-free household, ANY video viewing is a huge treat, even old You Tube bloopers. I mean, what could be more hilarious to a 6 year-old than someone falling off a dock? I had no worries about Flipper experiencing any kind of distress at the animals and their adventures; this is the kid that chirpily tosses the "It's nature's way!" in the direction of my fleeing back as I hastily depart from an elephant documentary that shows the death of a baby elephant.

I, however, was wrong: movies like this one, The Incredible Journey, etc., anthropomorphizing animals to a degree that generate emotions. They have to, or the movies wouldn't work. But I was wrong: by the second (brief) encounter with a bear she was tearfully hiding her head under a pillow; by the time the little pug was just about to give up the ghost in a blizzard scene that looked like a page from a Jack London book, she had had enough. Tears, tears, tears, cry, cry cry-distressed at the implied snowy Popsicle the dog was about to become, but more upset at how long good buddies Milo and Otis had been apart. Poor Flipper!!! My consoling words fell on deaf ears, and ultimately I just snapped off the lights and let her fall asleep. Maybe we'll try again in a few years; until then, You Tube "funny cats" might be as close as she gets to The Incredible Journey.

Note: Yes, she does like Fantasia-but not the terrified, stampeding dinosaurs.