Harry Potter At The Drive-In

My 13 year old daughter, Dakota, and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight at the drive-in.  We are both huge fans of the series and have been waiting for it to open.  We were going to head out to the theater to see it, but then I realized it was playing at the drive-in. So we went to TGI Fridays for dinner and then headed to the movies.

Our local drive-in is now in it's 56th year and while some folks believe the day of the drive-in is long gone, ours is busting.  As the number of drive-ins has dwindled to around 400 in the past 15 years, ours has added three screens and a miniature golf course.  I remember going as a teen and the place would be pretty dead, but now it is not only the largest drive-in found in NY State, but it is usually hard to find a good spot if you don't get there early.  Even on a Monday night it was pretty packed for the Harry Potter film, although many left before Terminator started.

The movie itself was great, as always.  I'm a big fan of the series, though so I may be biased.  I think what makes the films so successful is that they stay so true to the books.  This movie was darker than the first 5 installments, but the books also got darker as they progressed.  I was surprised when I saw it only had a PG rating, because the last two films were PG-13.  It still might be a bit scary for the real little ones.  The Terminator movie wasn't too shabby, either.  I like action films and it was definitely full of action and some cool effects.

All in all it was a great night and both my daughter and I enjoyed both movies.  Things have been real busy this summer so it was nice for her and I to do something by ourselves.  The older she gets, the harder it seems to be to find time for just her and I to do things so it's nice when we get a whole evening like this.