Spanish on the silver screen

After hearing horror stories of friends having to pay 15 pounds ($30) for a ticket to the movies in London, I wondered how my first experience at the movies in Spain would go.

A friend offered to go see "Hairspray" at a plaza just down the street from my apartment. However, someone told us that all of the music was in English, which of course, with a musical, means that the majority of the film would be in English. We made the last-minute change to "Ratatouille" and were not disappointed. Tickets were 4.60 euros, which is about $6.50. Not bad for a Thursday afternoon.

I would recommend the film to anyone, especially "Chef Jeff." It's about a rat with a passion for the kitchen who helps a kid cook at a top restaurant. It's animated, funny and intellectual. A character must decide between helping out a kid and living with his family. Nevermind that this is a rat, it's still a nice story. Nevermind that the film claims France has the best food (clearly Italy). But with American films, Spain has people who always dub the voices of famous actors. The Spanish version usually comes out a few months after the American version.

I couldn't understand every word, and after watching the trailer on YouTube, I realized I missed out many of the jokes. I still enjoyed the film and got more experience listening to people talk rapid Spanish. However, it was nice to hear people speak Spanish well, as opposed to people in Seville dropping every other consonant.

Also, there were only a couple of previews and a short animated film before the actual movie. The short film featured two aliens trying to transport a boy from his bed to the spaceship. This one poor little alien-in-training sat in front of a board of hundreds of switches, trying to figure out the right combination to bring the boy to the ship. He struggled mightily, as the kid ended up flying around the room banging into everything (while still managing to sleep!). It was funny, you just had to be there.