Elmwood Park Screens Its Last 'Movie In The Park' For The Summer
By Don Shanahan
In a bygone era, many generations ago, drive-in movies were a national staple of family entertainment and community connection. The casual thrill of watching movies outdoors on a screen bigger than the ones inside theater houses added to the communal experience.
While watching movies at a drive-in got a nostalgic bump during the pandemic, the next closest thing with today’s technology is a movie projected on an inflated screen connected to a big speaker in a town park, where portable lawn chairs take the place of convertibles and pickup trucks.
For another summer, the Village of Elmwood Park has presented its “Movies in the Park” at Central Park for any and all village residents and guests. As of publication, only one screening is left.
Skewing to the mild-mannered family crowd, the movie selections have stayed a universal PG rating. The village’s first selection was the recent Disney blockbuster “Moana 2,” but it was called off due to, if you recall, chilly temperatures in the month of June (rather unbelievable).
On June 26, the village rebounded with a showing of Pixar’s seminal 2015 hit “Inside Out,” which always brings the full range of emotions.
The final movie scheduled for July 17 is another Pixar favorite, “Elemental,” which was released in 2023.
Directed by Peter Sohn, who brought the underrated “The Good Dinosaur” (2015) to Disney/Pixar, “Elemental” is set in a world of anthropomorphic elements of nature taking human-like forms and running a very similar, yet divided society. If you know your science, fire and water don’t mix.
Yet in Elemental there is a burgeoning relationship between young lady of fire and an easy-going man of water. Through its on-the-surface forbidden pairing, the parallels and life lessons mirror, when you think about it, race relations in our own world today, which adds to the entertainment value of the movie.
If you get the chance, you’re in for a nice event from Elmwood Park Special Events.
Gather your lawn chairs, blankets, and personal snack selections. Invite the family, lean back with the stars over your head, and soak up the summer comforts while a good movie tickles your funny bone and warms your heart.
See you on July 17 in Central Park. Get your spot around 7 p.m. The movie begins at dusk!
Don Shanahan is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic living in Elmwood Park as a school teacher by day with his wife, Thanh, and two children, Molly and Sam. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Content Supervisor of Film Obsessive, the founder of the website Every Movie Has a Lesson, and the co-host of the Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast. Don is also a voting member of the nationally-recognized Critics Choice Association, Hollywood Creative Alliance, Chicago Indie Critics, the Online Film Critics Society, and several other groups. The Shanahan family manages the "Free Blockbuster" take-a-movie/leave-a-movie franchise box located on the 2600 block of North 75th Court.