What’s an interactive move with your family? It’s a fantastic, fun, unique, and connected way to do family movie night! You’re going to want to try this as soon as you can!
The interactive movie was introduced to us by my sister-in-law, who went to a five-senses film screening at the Utah Film Festival. She then showed us how it was done with the movie Elf. At different points, she would pause the movie and have us do something with one of our senses that correlated with the scene we just watched.
We had a snowball fight, tried spaghetti with syrup (not as bad as you might think), were sprayed with perfume, ate gobs of candy, had a burping contest, and more. It was so fun!
So when our school year ended, my husband and I wanted to mark the occasion with something fun. We decided to do the same interactive movie idea with our favorite movie, The Princess Bride. We have since repeated this with cousins, and it was a huge hit both times.
Since we couldn’t think of something for the sense of smell, we decided to call our experience an interactive movie, instead of a five-senses film screening. But both titles work!
The interactive movie isn’t something we’ll do for every family movie night, of course. (It’s a lot of work!) But I think we’ll do it a few times a year for special occasions, or even birthday parties.
Read how our interactive movie worked for The Princess Bride, and copy it exactly, or use it as a springboard to your own ideas for your family’s favorite movie!
The Princess Bride Interactive Movie
The Very First Scene
The movie begins with a child coughing. He’s sick in bed, and his grandfather comes to read him a book. When we heard the first cough, we paused the movie and gave everyone a small can of 7-Up, since that eases upset tummies when sick.
Princess Buttercup!
When Prince Humperdinck introduces the people to Princess Buttercup, we paused the movie and gave everyone a Reese’s peanut butter cup.
Anybody Want a Peanut?
Fezzik has a gift for rhyme. He utters his famous phrase, “Anybody want a peanut?” after Vizzini yells at him to “Stop rhyming now! I mean it!” At this point, we paused the movie and asked the kids to solve silly rhyming riddles like:
You use me from your head to toe
The more I work, the smaller I grow.
(A bar of soap)
The Left-Handed Swordfight
Westley and Inigo Montoya have a hilarious left-handed swordfight. After we finished watching that scene (which might be the best scene of the movie!), we took our interactive movie outdoors for our own swordfight. Everyone grabbed a pool noodle and battled left-handed. At one point, we all switched to our right hands, just like they do in the movie.
Fight the Giant
The giant, Fezzik, intimidates Westley by throwing a rock that narrowly misses his head. After this scene, we again took our interactive movie outdoors, where we threw balled-up socks at each other until we got tired.
The Battle of Wits
Vizzini and Westley have a battle of wits, in which Westley pours an odorless, tasteless poison into goblets of wine. Vizzini has to choose a goblet and take a drink.
We recreated this by pouring a flavored drink into one red Solo cup and water into another. We then covered the cup with foil, and poked a straw through the top, so that the drinks wouldn’t be visible at all. Then, two at a time, people had to choose a cup and take a sip. If they chose the flavored drink, they had to imitate Vizzini’s laugh.
The Six-Fingered Man (and the Shrieking Eels)
The six-fingered man is a dastardly villain. When Westley meets him after escaping the fire swamp, we set out to find the six-fingered man among us.
We had a black glove for each person. In the tip of one of the middle fingers, we put a piece of paper that nobody could see. Then, we played a sort of “hot potato” game, with everyone taking a glove and passing it to their right while the music played. Once the music stopped, everyone checked the fingers of their gloves. The person who had the piece of paper was the evil six-fingered man, and as punishment, they had to go “swim” with the shrieking eels. (I threw gummy worms at them and shouted, “Swim with the shrieking eels!”)
Not to 50!
Poor Westley suffers an unimaginable pain when his torture machine is turned to 50. He releases a scream that can be heard all throughout the land.
After his scream ended, we each took turns doing our best “Not to 50!” scream. Dad judged the screams, and gave everyone a unique award: (funniest, loudest, most physical etc.)
Miracle Max
Once Miracle Max is finally persuaded to revive Westley, he and his wife coat a pill with chocolate to make it go down easier. They hold the chocolate pill between two sticks. After the scene, we gave everyone chopsticks and had them pick up Milk Duds to eat.
Mawage
Finally, Princess Buttercup sort of marries Prince Humperdinck. After the wedding, we paused the interactive movie and gave everyone wedding mints.
Tips for a Successful Interactive Movie
You really can’t go wrong with an interactive movie. It’s a movie, after all, and that’s already fun. Adding any extra to it will be sure to delight.
But here are a few ideas to make the interactive movie run smoothly.
- Pick a movie you know very well. Both my husband and I grew up watching The Princess Bride regularly, and we can quote it almost word for word as a result. This made it easier to come up with ideas ahead of time, and it also made it easy to know when to pause the movie.
- Write out your plan. We printed up a list of each stopping point, with the titles I used in my subheadings above. We posted it where we could see it, to be reminded of when to stop. But the kids liked looking at it and guessing about what we would do next.
- Wait for the scene to end before pausing. This just makes it easy to know when to pause, and it ensures you all know why you’re doing the interactive thing you’re about to do. Pausing at the beginning of the scene feels a bit more choppy.
- Have all your items gathered together. This makes it easy to keep the interactive movie going. It’s also fun to keep the items in a basket and cover it up, because that enhances the mystery for your kids.
- Don’t worry! Like I said above, you can’t do it wrong. Have fun!
Want a fun, interactive way to get to know your child better — without much extra effort? Check out my back-and-forth journal for parents and kids. It’s a great, simple way to share your thoughts with your child, while inviting them to share back with you. You’ll be amazed at the insights you gain about your child as you use the back-and-forth journal.