Penguins In The Evening

We are not people who go out very often. It’s usually best to stay home for us and, frankly, going somewhere around these parts means having to beat traffic, which really puts me off. However, yesterday evening was the exception. Over the last 2 years we have been dragging around with 2 movie tickets we once received from our Credit Card Company. No they were not free as Credit Card Companies never give you ANYTHING for free. We had paid for it by redeeming “rewards”. Whatever! Over those 2 years these tickets “disappeared” half a dozen times but were always recovered in a mystical way. Now, Edmonton has several CINEPLEX theatres which is the only place the tickets are worth something. Since we neither partake in the Christmas shopping hysteria, we decided that now was the time to make some use of them tickets. Bea made the decision that we should see PENGUINS IN MADAGASCAR.  Sure enough a title which promises SOME entertainment and causes my level of curiosity to spike. The theatre is located some 8kms away and is part of the famous West Edmonton Mall. That meant that we had to get there early, as parking would be an issue. And it was! The place was packed with crazy looking Christmas shoppers. Pandemonium everywhere! Making headway through the crowds was an adventure in itself. Finally we located the Cineplex at the very end of a long wing and wayyy up a long staircase. Since the Penguins were in 3D (Oh my..) we had to pay 3 Bucks extra pp. That was OK with me, but then we had an entire hour extra to kill. What to do? My feet were hurting already and my desire to sit down somewhere led us to an ice cream parlour. Not really a parlour but rather an ice cream stand. Not too bad I say. We had ourselves a Sundae each for the sweet price of $6.45 plus tax EACH. But it was good – at least. After devouring such delicacies we made our way back up the staircase to the Penguins. We were still 25 minutes early for the performance, so we kind of had the choice of seating ourselves where ever we desired. Once the giant screen came to life it was not to start the Penguins but to flood us with all kind of TV commercials which lasted --- well about 40 minutes. I started to get annoyed. But then FINALLY we saw the “DREAMWORKS” logo pop up and a wide white landscape animation opened up. And here they came…..Penguins by the hundreds. But the show is really only about 3 of them plus a rolling egg, from where yet another one (Penguin) emerges. That is after the egg has bounced down to a rusty old ship wreck. Now I don’t want to spoil the fun for you (in case you want to see the movie yourself) but I just mention that a ferocious battle starts between a wild horde of octopus creations and our 4 Penguin heroes.  However, it wouldn’t be a good movie without a Happy End. The movie boasted many comical animations causing a lot of chuckles in the watching crowd.  A well-spent evening we will not forget any time soon. It’s Christmas Eve and with that many memories are circling around in my head. This Christmas Eve is different from any earlier Christmas Eves we ever had. We are both working but we will have time off between Christmas and New Years. We wish all of our readers where ever they are in the world a Merry Christmas and may all your wishes come true.