Free First Sundays: Family Flicks

Squish SpongeBob and mute Hannah Montana; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Target Free First Sundays: Family Flicks series is more fun than both those characters put together, and is a learning experience to boot. There are four films on today’s schedule. The first two are adaptations of children’s books in which the illustrations come to life. In Roberto, The Insect Architect, a termite named Roberto travels to the big city with dreams of becoming an architect. Sean Hayes narrates. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers was inspired by the true story of French aerialist Philippe Petit and his daredevil high-wire walk between the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Jake Gyllenhaal narrates.

The other two films share a construction theme. Douglas Wilkinson’s now classic How to Build an Igloo demonstrates ice brick building, certainly a novel process for most little Houstonians. And Co Hoedeman’s silent The Sand Castle, winner of a 1978 Oscar for Best Animated Short, is a trippy little story of the Sandman who creates sand friends; together, they build, duh, sand castles. Roberto and The Man start at 2 p.m.; Igloo and Sand Castle are at 3 p.m. 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7515 or visit www.mfah.org. Free.
Sun., March 2, 2 p.m., 2008