IT WAS THE CLOSEST I HAD ever been to another planet and I did not want it to end. After seeing Jupiter and Saturn, I quickly lost my amazement over the moon and Mars. I even got to see a shooting star; there was always talk about one, but I had never seen it before. No pun intended, but my mind expanded in a new way while I leaned back in one of the cushy chairs there in the dark auditorium of the planetarium. It was my first time and seeing the solar system come “alive” above my head was exciting. The only reference I had to the other planets in our solar system had been movies and children’s books. I do not think we had studied the system yet in elementary school. So, you can see how stunned I was to see crystal clear images of the planets floating in the air, or at least it certainly seemed that way. One of my favorite television shows was Flash Gordon; at one point, I wondered if during the show I would get to see the planet, Mongo. Alas, it was never shown. I left the planetarium with a stronger fascination about outer space and the possibilities that were out there.      THIS FEELING WAS SUCH A STRONG contrast to what took place in school. When I tell you what took place, there might be a chance you will not believe me. The reason I say this is because recently I was talking with a group of people, some of them educators, who shared their school’s protocols for safety. I was stunned when they said they must perform “active shooter” training with their classes. We discussed the horrors that are attached to it. For example, one teacher said they have a couple of students who were traumatized by a shooting in their town, and they must be excused because the training was too intense for them. I expressed my horror that we now live in a time where “active shooter” training is the norm. When I was in first grade, we periodically would have air raid drills. I surprised the educators because they had never heard of such a thing. I told them an alarm would sound and we would all have to leave our classrooms and go into the hallway, to sit down with our backs up to our locker, then cross our legs and try to get our heads down to our laps. I always wondered who would harm us in an air raid in the Midwest. It was a similar wonder to what happened to the junior stargazers in this dramatic comedy romance.      COMING TO A SMALL SPOT IN the desert, a group of strangers encounter something unworldly that changes their perceptions of the world. With Jason Schwartzman (The French Dispatch, Big Eyes) as Augie Steenbeck, Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow, JoJo Rabbit) as Midge Campbell, Tom Hanks (A Man Called Otto, Elvis) as Stanley Zak, Jeffrey Wright (The Batman, The French Dispatch) as General Gibson and Bryan Cranston (The One and Only Ivan, Jerry and Marge Go Large) as the Host; this Wes Anderson film had all of the same trappings as his previous films. It had a great and diverse cast, quirky and colorful sets, multiple story lines and odd characters in the story. What was missing for me was the fun factor, along with a better cohesive script. Things felt forced to me. It seemed various scenes were tossed in to keep the audience entertained, but they did not offer much. I found myself being bored at times and not really getting a sense of where the story wanted to go. There was an element of humor and silliness, but it did not help to get me into an excited mood to sit and enjoy the rest of the film.

2 ¼ stars