"Come on, kids, we're going to be late," you say as you struggle to get your son to put his coat on.
"I don't wanna, it's not even that cold out," he complains.
"Fine. But at least take it with you."
Sighing, he takes it from you.
Your daughter carefully packs the brand new Barbie purse she got for Christmas with Milky Ways, Starbursts, and chocolate bars. "I'm ready!" she says excitedly.
You load your kids into the car and your husband drives you to the theater.
"Two adults and two kids for Shrek Nine," you say to the box office girl, a teenager who couldn't possibly know the first thing about Shrek; then again, neither do your kids. Not really.
You go into the theater to catch a few previews before the room goes dark. Your daughter opens a candy bar and sips her lemonade as the DreamWorks logo solidifies out of the stars, mesmerized by the beauty you know all too well.
The shot pans from a dark night sky with stars and a crescent moon down to a young boy fishing on a dock with his father. The boy looks up at the sky. "Dad," he says. "What would it be like to touch the moon?"
And then you know. You'd heard rumors that the DreamWorks company is going out of business, and you just couldn't believe it, but now… now you know the rumors are true. You turn to your husband, trying to hold it together but when you see his face you just can't. A tear slips from your left eye and lands on your son's hand. He turns to you. "Mom, why are you crying?" he asks.
You don't reply; just keep watching as the boy's father chuckles. "That's a funny thing to say. Why would you want to go up there when it's perfectly comfortable down here on land?"
The boy sighs and shrugs. "I was just curious, that's all."
The two go back to fishing in silence. "Dad, do you think that I could go to the moon one day?"
"Enough of this nonsense!" the father exclaims, throwing down his fishing pole. "You need to get your head out of the clouds and focus on what really matters. You're going to be a man soon; it's time to start acting like one."
You hold your breath as the father storms away, leaving the boy alone on the dock with his fishing pole. He sighs. Suddenly, there is a rustling in the bushes and a small figure jumps out, looking very afraid.
"Where did you come from?" the boy asks.
The tiny man brushes off his legs. "I've just come from up there," he says, pointing to the sky.
"The moon?"
"Yeah, if that's what you call it."
"I've always wanted to go up there," the boy says longingly, gazing up at the white crescent.
The little man gets a sly grin. "You could take my place in the day-night cycle. Although I'll warn you, it does get lonely up there."
"Really? What do I have to do?"
The man begins whispering. "All you have to do is make sure nighttime begins and ends on time. Can you do that?"
The boy nods eagerly. "Wait… can I bring my family?"
The tiny man shakes his head. "Not enough room. Although…" he waves his hand and the boy's fishing pole is engulfed in sparkle. "I've enchanted your pole. Every year, on the summer solstice when the moon is closest to the Earth, you can use this pole to pull one person – and only one – up to visit you for one day. And when night comes, you'll have to send them back down."
The boy shifts his feet. "Why did you leave?"
"I missed my family and they missed me." He looks guilty, but doesn't say anything else. "I'm warning you, kid, don't do anything you'll regret. It's not a fun job."
The boy sighs. "My father won't miss me. Can you take me there?"
The man nods. He takes the boy's hand and the two slowly rise until the boy is sitting in the curve of the crescent and the man is floating beside him. "Good luck," the man says. "But just remember, you can still change your mind between now and sunrise. After that you're stuck here for life."
"Well how did you leave then?"
The man smiles sadly. "I died." Without another word, the man dissolves into dust like sand blowing in a windstorm.
The boy shivers. He looks down at the ground and sees his father returning to the dock, only to find his boy gone.
His father yells desperately, but the boy doesn't return. "I made it, Papa," he whispers, the wind carrying his voice down to his father. "I'm on the moon."
His father looks up, and the boy waves with tears in his eyes. "Goodbye," the boy says as the sky begins to lighten. The moon fades and the boy with it, becoming a silhouette against the sky as the DreamWorks logo you have come to love.
The screen fades to black and you suddenly remember yourself and your family. You touch your face to find tear streaks on your cheeks, and you look to your right to see the same on your husband's.
An old man appears on the screen. "Hello," he says. "My name is Jeffrey Katzenberg, and I am one of the original founders of DreamWorks Animation Studios. I'd like to take a moment before the film to say thank you to all of you who have been watching DreamWorks films from the very beginning, and are still sitting here now for our final film. It's been a wondrous journey. Thank you. And goodbye." The screen fades to black once more, and you can't keep it in anymore.
As the film starts, you silently say goodbye to all the movies you once loved as a child.
Goodbye, Monsters vs. Aliens.
Goodbye, Shrek.
Goodbye, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, and Rise of the Guardians.
The movies you'd grown up with, loved, and never dreamed would leave you were coming to an end, but you aren't ready to let them go just yet.
Half the theater is in tears as you hug your son tightly and whisper in his ear, "When we get home I have a story to tell you. It begins with a little boy fishing on the moon."