Paul and I had our first Abby-less date night tonight in celebration of our anniversary and Valentine's Day which we were not able to do together while he was still in Maryland.

My parents agreed to watch Abigail, so Paul and I left for an early evening showing of Coraline. We were planning on seeing the regular 2D version, having not been impressed by the hype of a new wave of 3D fascination starting around Super Bowl time, but when we arrived at the Highlands Ranch AMC theater we learned that they only had 3D showings, which was fine.

The story was decent, certainly interesting enough for me to want to read the story, but it was dark and at times pretty scary. By the time credits rolled, I was pretty sure I would have a couple of bad dreams thanks to the movie.

On the other hand, the technology that created the film blew me away. The 3D effects were very cool, but we had to put up with very uncomfortable 3D glasses, unfortunately. 3D has come SO FAR in the last 20 years and it created a movie experience that felt more like watching live theater; there was so much depth between characters and backgrounds! Pair that with amazing stop-motion filming and CG effects, you get brilliant, visually stunning scenes. I have always been a huge fan of stop-motion films because the images created have so much more texture than CG or traditional animation.

Overall, if you have geek tendencies and appreciate the technology that went into making the movie, I would really recommend Coraline. Despite an ok story with scary bits, the movie was made extremely well and - 3D or not - the animation was fantastic.

Paul and I went to The Melting Pot - the fondue restaurant - in downtown Littleton after we finished the movie. We have always enjoyed going to The Melting Pot and spending 3-4 hours to enjoy good food and good company. This was our first time at this particular location, though. Colorado has four Melting Pot restuarants and the two we have visited (in Louisville and now in Littleton) are located in converted historical buildings, giving them each a unique atmosphere. The Littleton restaurant is in a quaint little building which used to be the downtown Public Libary over a hundred years ago.

A great date night, but I am still stuffed from all the food! Abby just woke up and was all smiles after seeing both Paul and me. She drank some milk and quickly went back to sleep. I think she woke up strictly to make sure Mommy and Daddy had come home.

I think I'll go read for awhile before turning in for the night.

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