Christian Spotlight on Entertainment

So there I was hanging around over on Fundies Say The Darndest Things, when I came across this review of the film "A Bug's Life". Remember that, with the little ant who makes things out of grass and water droplets, and those big grasshoppers? I used to love that movie when I was 8. I even had a video game of it. This particular reviewer, one "Sam McNear, age 28", thought differently.

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There was something's in the movie that makes this movie, one that won't end up in my video collection. The first thing is the praying mantis is first seen meditating yoga style. Not something I won't to teach my kids. Second is when the praying mantis is performing his act he says he is using his psyche to pick someone for his trick and I wonder where he is suppose to be getting his power from to complete the trick if he is using his psyche for the first part. It only takes a brief look at Acts 16:16-18 to discover the source of psychic powers. His performance is new age to the fullest. No new age is getting in my house. Also you might want to look at all the phrases your kids will learn from this film. Phrases: “Shut up,” “You parasite,” “”Poo poo heads,” “Ingrates,” “Who ordered the poo poo platter?,” “You fight like a girl,” “Stupid,” “Loser,” “Screw up,” “Turn your butt off,” “Idiot,” “You moron,” and “You piece of dirt.”

Um, alright, that's all kinds of special... so I decided to take a look at the website linked from that review, one ChristianAnswers.net. And... wow.

Ok, so overall the reviewers of A Bugs Life decided to give it a moral rating of "good". However, just take a look of the movies rated "Extremely Offensive"... Harry Potter is, as is Brokeback Mountain. Less obviously, so is Billy Elliot, Bend It Like Beckham (yes, at this point I was looking through the 'B' section), The Golden Compass, Meet The Spartans, The Longest Yard, Love Actually, Step Brothers, Shakespeare In Love, Shaun of The Dead, Sweeney Todd, and many, many more...

The reviews themselves can be... confusing, at best. Take this review of Shawn of the Dead:

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This film was completely upsetting to me as a Christian. It made me cry and I walked out right away. I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I heard from my Jewish and Muslim friends it was really good, but it wasn’t at all. It had the walking dead and that is completely against the Bible. It was a hellish movie, and I suggest no one sees it ever and everyone boycotts it right away.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/1]
—Linda Noiega

The movie is called Shawn of the Dead. Do you see that the title of this movie is a play on the movie "Dawn of the Dead? That it has the word 'dead' in it? Its tagline is A romantic comedy. With zombies. Do you see that word? The word 'zombies'? Did you see all the movie posters? You know, the ones with the pictures of zombies on? How could you possibly have gone into this movie not expecting zombies??



In the reviews for Billy Elliot, there are numerous references to the film's 'homosexual subtext', as in this review:

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I did wonder why it was necessary to make Billy’s friend homosexual. It was not an essential element in the story line even though Billy was accused of being gay because he liked to dance.

Yes, why was it necessary to have a gay person in this movie where a large part almost all of the plot is about overcoming prejudice?



P.S. The Spongebob Squarepants movie is rated as "offensive". The more you know, I suppose...

Ahahaha

Princess and the Frog is rated "Offensive".

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As a Christian, I'm sorry to say that there weren’t too many positives about this film. There was too much focus on the Voodoo, Darkside and Sorcery. The counter character to the “Shadowman,” a voodoo priestess (I believe she was called “Mamma D”) was portrayed as a good person, but there is nothing good that springs forth from evil!

I'm sorry. I'm laughing so hard right now because I'm partially convinced this has to be a troll review.

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Be prepared to discuss voodoo, graveyards, demons, evil spirits, spells, the occult, “friends on the other side,” trading the souls of all the people in New Orleans for help from the dark side, tarot card readings and witch doctors to your child if you go.

Have you ever heard of the word "culture"? Honestly, that's one of the big things known in New Orleans. Don't act so surprised by it. It was even in the previews, FFS!

ETA: Kingdom Hearts rated "slightly offensive".

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I liked playing the game at first, but after playing it for a while and really looking back on it, I felt it had a lot to dislike. It shows children fighting each other with wooden swords, which in real life a child could get hurt by doing this with a friend. Then you have the spells you can cast after you learn theme from completing a task or reaching a level. One really disturbing scene which effected me is that a child stabbed himself with the main weapon in the game called the keyblade. It was far off in the game and it was one of the many cut scenes in the game. Just because a game is rated E for everyone, doesn't mean that it's the right rating of that game. Parents be warned that the rating system today on movies and games are light.

If that's his reaction to Kingdom Hearts, I'm dying to know what they think of games like Persona 3.

ETAA: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Mostly positive reviews except it was give "some issues":

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Revealing Clothing: Zero Suit Samus wears a ridiculously tight outfit, and while she doesn't show any skin the outfit is still tight enough to leave little to the imagination.
Crude Humor: The character Wario has an attack where he farts to damage the enemy.

At least the reviewer actually thinks that the rating is too high.

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Let me start off with this- this game should be rated E10. The Teen rating is not sensible. The violence in this game is Looney Tunes-esque. If those oh-so-violent cartoons don’t offend you, Brawl won’t offend you.

The Spongebob one made me laugh so much.

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Sexual innuendo is present, as Patrick is enamored with Mindy and flirts with her constantly, telling her she’s “hot” and asking her at one point if she wants to see his underwear. Will there be little boys on school playgrounds getting charged with sexual harassment after mimicking this sort of behavior coming from their lovable cartoon friend?

Patrick also displays sexual perversion in the final scene, when he attends a rock concert wearing fishnet stockings and women’s black leather boots.

David Hasselhoff makes an embarrassing cameo in swim trunks, during which his chest is computer-manipulated so that his pectoral muscles flex unnaturally, even forming a square shape, and then he places SpongeBob and Patrick on his chest and uses his muscles like a wedge to propel them back down into the sea. It is a grotesque scene.

Pokemon

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CONCERN #2
Life in the Pokmon world is one of continuous fighting. Children are encouraged to train cute little animals to bite and scratch their friends' cute little animals. If the purpose of the game were to collect cute little puppies and train them to fight other cute little puppies, there would be a huge public outcry. Since the Pokmon are imaginary animals, it seems to be more acceptable. We are concerned about a game that puts children into a world of constant belligerence and aggression, turning cute characters into little monsters.

As the characters evolve into larger and fiercer beasts, they develop such powers and weapons as cannons built into their bodies, spraying poison and toxic gas, electrocution, and even eating your dreams. In the world of Pokmon, children are taught that each Pokmon has a special gift or talent. However, instead of using those gifts to help others, children are being encouraged to fight each other.

That's right, guys. All of us that are playing Pokemon are demented. We now believe in dog fights because of Pokemon.

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CONCERN #3
To gain the competitive edge, a trainer must use magic potions to heal and strengthen his Pokmon, and wear magic badges to control the stronger Pokmon. In addition, the really powerful Pokmon have psychic powers and can throw curses. This bears disturbing similarities to witchcraft. In the Nintendo-licensed storyline of the cartoon, Ash, the hero of the series, goes to a tower haunted by dead Pokmon. To detect and identify these Pokmon, Ash uses a Silph Scope (a real instrument used by paranormal researchers to detect ghosts). While in the tower, Ash is attacked by Channelers, which are described as possessed people who use dead Pokmon to attack live Pokmon. In the story, one even chants, "Give me your soul...give me your soul" over and over again ("Pathways to Adventure", pg. 66).

Channelers, like the Silph Scope, are real! Channelers are people who "channel" or become possessed with a spirit who communicates through the human host. This occult encounter, as well as others in the storyline ("Pathways to Adventure", pg. 70), are specifically targeted for a pre-teen audience. Pokmon can be a gateway and a simple stepping-stone to more overtly occult games like Dungeons & Dragons.

DID YOU HEAR THAT? WE'RE GOING TO START USING WITCHCRAFT BECAUSE OF POKEMON. Pfff

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However, role-playing games, such as "Pokmon" and "Dungeons & Dragons", encourage children to identify with the personality of the character they play. A child who pretends to be a character that abuses animals and attacks people is more likely to find that type of behavior acceptable in real life. What we focus on makes a difference in how our children grow in character and spirit.

I'm finding this hilarious considering the fact that a lot of Pokemon players I know are the biggest animal lovers. Just look at Somath and Kitbug as an example. Unless they aren't telling us something.

Jesus, I was wondering why I suddenly felt compelled to draw pentagrams on the floor and summon efreets shortly after playing Leaf Green.

Now I know.

I have the strangest urge to sit these fundies down and read them the AFF stuff based on these movies and videogames they're so offended by. The lolz would be epic.

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[regarding Avatar]

Negative - This in 3D is incredible greatest eye experience in moves ever. But the crowd's don't comprehend the point of this move is the destruction of what truth. Gaia Worship is what at the heart of this move. Gaia Worship the modern vision of Pagan Religion and the Green movement,Global warming all related to each other. Avatar's planet Pandora is always called mother their God. Also, Liberal overtones like the military bad. Also they have the military calling the Avatar peoples as terrorist which is another liberal way of saying in the real world the military calls good people terrorist. The move used the term shock and awe and we know that term related to President Bush. Those that don't understand the truth of scripture lack knownledge to see truth and a lie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
—Dan, age 50 (USA)

ZOMG! Avatar puts something other than Christianity in a good light! It's teh ebul! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

From the reviews of 28 Days Later (overall 'Extremely Offensive'):

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Negative - …From start to finish, its violence, gore and attitude upset me a lot. The idea is that we are the danger to ourselves because in the end people were killing people. Avoid this work of the devil. My sister was in tears, because of the nude zombies and attempted rape. I couldn't watch as the zombies caught people. The main actors assault on the priest was unforgivable, whether he be alive or dead. Disturbing. Bad.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/3]
—Dale, age 19

The assault on the priest? What assault on the... oh, you mean that bit right after Cillian Murphy wakes up, when the infected priest tries to attack him? When Cillian, after stumbling around and looking confused for a bit, hits the priest on the head with a bag of soft drinks and runs off? The priest isn't even hurt, just knocked back a bit. And this scene hurt you more than, say, the scene where Cillian gouges out a guard's eyes with his thumbs?

Lady Anne wrote:

ZOMG! Avatar puts something other than Christianity in a good light! It's teh ebul! :bible:...

FIVE STARS!

Fixed.

This confuses me. They complain about paganism and how bad the (or rather 'any') movie is for you and then give it a 5 out of 5 in moviemaking quality.

So is this the 'Stuffiest of special interest groups' I hear so much about?

Seule wrote:

From the reviews of 28 Days Later (overall 'Extremely Offensive'):

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Negative - …From start to finish, its violence, gore and attitude upset me a lot. The idea is that we are the danger to ourselves because in the end people were killing people. Avoid this work of the devil. My sister was in tears, because of the nude zombies and attempted rape. I couldn't watch as the zombies caught people. The main actors assault on the priest was unforgivable, whether he be alive or dead. Disturbing. Bad.
My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/3]
—Dale, age 19

I'm reading that quote but all I'm seeing is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW

Also, I'm so thankful I'm not dating someone like that. Movie-times would be so much less fun.

If seeing (VERY BRIEF) scenes of nudity and some violence upset these delicate flowers so much, I'd hate to think what films like, say, Ken Park or GWAR's Phallus in Wonderland would do to them. Probably have to hospitalize the poor dears...

Seule wrote:

The assault on the priest? What assault on the... oh, you mean that bit right after Cillian Murphy wakes up, when the infected priest tries to attack him? When Cillian, after stumbling around and looking confused for a bit, hits the priest on the head with a bag of soft drinks and runs off? The priest isn't even hurt, just knocked back a bit. And this scene hurt you more than, say, the scene where Cillian gouges out a guard's eyes with his thumbs?

LOL, I thought you were going to mention the scene where he's stumbling out of bed and his (GASP!) dick is showing! Oh no; anything but the sight of a man's penis!

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Be prepared to discuss...graveyards... to your child if you go.

What.

Seule wrote:

Less obviously, so is...The Golden Compass

Oh no, that's actually quite obvious. The last book of His Dark Materials is basically Philip Pullman having an apoplectic fit about monotheism. Fundies hate it because OMG(oodness) HE HATES TEH CHRISTIANS, fans hate it because it's horribly preachy and more or less pisses what started off as an awesome series down the gutter.

...of course, that's the LAST book, and this is based on the FIRST one, which only has trace amounts of scorn in it, so it doesn't make as much sense. Hell, they even cut out the brutal murder of a small child--which, incidentally, was the ending of the book wtf they ended the movie like twenty minutes early.

...no, I'm not bitter, sh'up [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Anyway, I actually remember this site from back in the day. They have been doing this for yeeeeears. And yet, they still haven't reviewed Jacob's Ladder OR Eraserhead :< C'MON, GUYS, I WANNA KNOW HOW SOME OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES FARE.

Oh God, they have The fucking Christmas Shoes as Excellent. I wonder what mewling, idiot reviews these bastards left on--

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Negative - The
made-for-TV movie, “The Christmas Shoes” and the song that was created
after an Internet urban legend does a major disservice to Christians
everywhere. WHAT difference would it make to our Lord and Savior WHAT
kind of shoes a dying woman is wearing??? Is it right for a little boy
to leave his dying mother and then go to a store unsupervised to beg
money to buy shoes? C'mon!


My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 2
—Elizabeth, age 30

...sometimes, miracles happen [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm a little surprised that Paranormal Activity got quite a few positive reviews. But there's a couple gem reviews in there.

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Negative - My teenage daughter saw this movie with friends for her 18th birthday, it was not chosen by her. She has not been able to sleep in her room for two nights! We have continuously had to pray over her specifically about what she saw. She said it is very demonic and not a movie for anyone, including non-believers. I trust her opinion, she wishes she would have walked out!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½
—Carol, age 50 (USA)

Ahuh... never mind sitting down with your child to have a discussion that "it was just a movie"; instead, pray frantically over them like demons could bust through the doorway any moment. Yep, that'll help calm them down.

Raine wrote:

I'm a little surprised that Paranormal Activity got quite a few positive reviews. But there's a couple gem reviews in there.

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Negative - My teenage daughter saw this movie with friends for her 18th birthday, it was not chosen by her. She has not been able to sleep in her room for two nights! We have continuously had to pray over her specifically about what she saw. She said it is very demonic and not a movie for anyone, including non-believers. I trust her opinion, she wishes she would have walked out!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½
—Carol, age 50 (USA)

Ahuh... never mind sitting down with your child to have a discussion that "it was just a movie"; instead, pray frantically over them like demons could bust through the doorway any moment. Yep, that'll help calm them down.

Jesus Christ. I know somebody who said that if you're secure in your Christian faith and believe in your faith, nothing bad will happen. Perhaps that's what the mother should be telling her daughter instead of just praying. And honestly, there was only one part that made me jump in that movie. :/

I had to take a look at what they said about one of my favorites...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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Negative - The review is accurate as far as it goes, but is very generous. This film is filled with occult teaching, sugarcoated with a layer of comedy. The bit with the “Gatekeeper” (the female demon possessing Weaver) and the “Keymaster” (the male one possessing Moranis) using their hosts to have “magic sex” in order to open the portal for a third demon… the scene where the Ghostbusters fall into a hole in the street and then “rise” and fight the demons, to the cheers of everyone including nuns and Hasidic Jews…

Oh noes...Catholics and Jews portrayed sympathetically!

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memorable quotes like “Next time someone asks you if you're a god, say yes”…it's one continual assault on the audience. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (2 Cor. 10:4) means, in part, that we can't fight the spirit world with a bunch of high-tech gadgetry. Spiritual power must be defeated by a stronger Spiritual power (Luke 11:20-22).

Ah, yes, the Ghostbusters have an evil message because they use their brains to invent weapons to defeat demons instead of just waving Bibles around and shouting "JESUS REBUKES YOU!!!" [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Classic.

Ahhhh, this is fun. Let's see, positive comments for Up, but...

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Comments about “Partly Cloudy,” the short that precedes showings of “Up” in theaters


Negative - This could
have been a cute and charming fantasy about the clouds that produce
babies for storks to deliver, except for the focus on the cloud that
produces violent animals (such as porcupines and alligators). The poor
stork assigned to this cloud keeps getting beaten up by the baby on the
way to its parents. Finally the stork is so tired and weak it goes to
another cloud to explain its situation, after which this cloud
manufactures football protective gear: a helmet and shoulder pads,
maybe a chest protector. Then his cloud gives him… an electric eel to
deliver. The armor is no protection against electric charges. How funny
is this? NOT! This is the most sadistic animated movie I have ever
seen. I don't care to speculate the effect this short may have on
sensitive young children.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5

God, I don't think it'd be possible to miss the point any harder. I mean, aside from calling classic Looney Toons-style cartoon violence "the most sadistic...I've ever seen", I simply can't get over the "This could
have been a cute and charming fantasy..." part. How the hell would that have been funny? I'm picturing the Simpsons episode when they censor Itchy and Scratchy so they just sit there and drink lemonade.

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The armor is no protection against electric charges.

that'sthejoke.jpg

I don't want to read the Cirque du Freak review because of spoilers (good God that sounds sad and pathetic), but skimming it, this looks familiar:

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There are over 20 uses of profanity, including 5 uses of “sh*t,” 4
“ass,” 2 “cr*p,” 1 “d*ck,” 4 “hell,” 2 “damn,” 2 “Oh my G*d,” and
“G*d,” “Oh G*d,” “Good Lord.”

AWRIGHT, FUNDIE SWEAR COUNTING! This is oldschool, my friends. In Batshit Crazy Assemblies Church #2, the crazy pastor's wife instated the rule that if there were three swears in a TV episode or movie, they turned it off immediately. Like, she didn't go through and count beforehand, she let her four kids watch it until the third swear and then switched it off. Can you imagine how frustrating that must be?

There's actually a really good entry on this weird behavior on the awesome awesome blog
Stuff Christians Like, in which it's pointed out that swearing is often the only bad behavior tagged in this fashion, often done at the same time as stuff like stealing and violence is ignored.

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Here’s what we should do. Instead of rating movies as
thumbs up or thumbs down or on a star system, let’s rate them on the
percent of the ten commandments they violated. We’ll print the
commandments out, add little check boxes and then start reviewing
movies. Sure people will stare, but it will make just as much sense as
counting swears.

Oh Jon Acuff, you give me hope for my religion. Delicious snarky hope.

Weirdy wrote:

Jesus Christ. I know somebody who said that if you're secure in your
Christian faith and believe in your faith, nothing bad will happen.
Perhaps that's what the mother should be telling her daughter instead
of just praying.

It's sadly common, I'm afraid. I can't count the times when I had the bejeebus scared out of me (into me?) by the fire-and-brimstone and the "demons are all around us" and the "witches will KILL YOU on Halloween" and on and on and on as a kid. Mom always calmed me down with the "My God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind", because she's the best mother ever. Basically, it just makes people important to assume they have all these enemies out to personally get them, but it's hell on a six-year-old.

HOMAHGAWD THEY HAVE A LINK TO A GAME REVIEW SITE [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] OH MAN I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM LOSE THEIR SHIT OVER SILENT HILL--

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Conclusion: Silent Hill is the creepiest and most disturbing I
have ever played, but in a good way. Unfortunately, due to the violent
images and spiritual content, I can’t recommend it to anyone under 16.

Well that's no fun [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I guess I'd better Google me up some equal-level fundie crazy for video games, huh?

From the review of Jersey Girl:

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Maya is a very sexual character who at one point in the movie also mentions Karma, and Hare Krishna, certainly not someone Ollie should be exposing his seven year old to.

A father exposed his young daughter to other religions? Why she may even grow up to be accepting and well-informed...

A review for the first Harry Potter Film:

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Because it appeared that Harry Potter movie was going to be nearly impossible to avoid, we started by reading the review on Focus on the Family Web site (Christian Spotlight hadn't finished its review at that time) including the separate review “What shall we (Christian families) do about Harry Potter” by Lindy Beam, as found on Focus on the Family. But reading reviews is kind of like the WTC disaster site, where they say that pictures don’t convey the sense that you feel when you experience it in person. [sic]
—Dave Storhaug, age 57

Dave Storhaug: let nobody say that he's not respectful of national tragedies.

Wow. There's actually a surprising amount of positive reviews for New Moon.

This one is probably my favorite, though:

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I have not seen this film and will not, as I feel such a grieving of the Holy Spirit. Christian brothers and sisters, how can we call such evil, good?

I'm with you so far, lady--it seems like a pretty shit-tastic movie.

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I have a 13 year old daughter that attends a Christian school and is the only girl in her class that has not read the book and will not see the movies.

Good on her! Or...is she not reading/watching it because you're forcing her not to? In which case, she's probably already seen it.

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Does anyone realize that the author, Stephanie Meyer, received this entire series as a dream? Not only did she have the voices of Edward and Bella ringing through her head that she almost could not sleep, but Edward also appeared to her after the first book and told her that she had portrayed him incorrectly. He told her that he DID drink the blood of humans.

... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I have heard that Meyer intially dreamed the story, but I didn't think she had crazy voices running around in her head like it was a bouncy castle. And the whole "Edward talking to her" thing sounds a lot more like a stunt Anne Rice would've pulled.

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Mormons, although very nice and good people, do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior!

Oh noes! Did you know they also all have 20 wives and live in enclosed bunkers looking like badly-dressed Amish?

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Without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, they are open to full demonic influence. Clearly, God did not send this as a dream to the author. Satan is the greatest deceiver, and he is aiming his deceit at our young children and their minds. We as Christians need to wake up, take a stand against evil, and pray for each other and these young minds and hearts!
—Sue, age 40 (USA)

GUYS. MORMONS ARE DEMONICALLY INFLUENCED. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] They're also apparently out to eat our babies and/or turn them to the DARKSIDE.

While I agree the the books and movies seem like utter crap, I think she's harping on the wrong reasons. Shouldn't she be more concerned about the way the books/movies portray a "perfect" romance? That's something I'd keep my kid away from--not the ebil sparkling "vampires".


I love how this site has a section for movie reviews by people who didn't even watch the movie. Those reviews really are the funniest.

Mafiosa wrote:

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Be prepared to discuss...graveyards... to your child if you go.

What.

I know parents tend to be over-protective of their kids these days, but given that my dad was a pastor, I've lost count of how many funerals I went to before I was old enough to start school. I had a pretty good grasp on death and what graveyards were for by the time I was three or four, and it didn't in any way spook me. It was just something that happened.

I don't get how fundies can believe in magic and voodoo and the like. They're claiming to be the one true religion, and at the same time, acknowledging that other systems of spirituality also work.

Lysander wrote:

I don't get how fundies can believe in magic and voodoo and the like. They're claiming to be the one true religion, and at the same time, acknowledging that other systems of spirituality also work.

It's due to the fact that the earliest Abrahamic religions were monolatric, rather than monotheistic. They _acknowledged_ the existence of other gods (and demons and spirits and stuff), they just said that they were evil and shouldn't be worshipped.

Some branches of modern Christianity have a similar approach to Satan/Lucifer. Invoking him _works_, but it also damns you, so you shouldn't do it, and he's less powerful than the other guy anyway. (Yes, this has implications as to God's omnipotence. No, it's typically not thought through.) It's possibly derived from Zoroastrianism with its opposed principles of good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Ahriman). In this system, practitioners of magic and voodoo and the like are _actually_ calling upon Lucifer, even if they think they're not.

Some Fundie wrote:

As a Christian, I'm sorry to say that there weren’t too many positives about this film. There was too much focus on the Voodoo, Darkside and Sorcery.

The Dark Side? You got your Christianity in my Jedi-ism! (Disclaimer: I am not a practicing Jedi.) Or is this a reference to the upcoming game Darksiders?

Unless the actual movie uses the word 'Darkside', which I assume it doesn't...

Incidentally, more Christian movie reviews can be found at this site. The ones there are a bit more sane than ones like those referenced above, but there's still plenty of ZOMGMAGICTHINKOFTEHCHILDRUNZ!!!11!one!1

ChristianAnswers reviews the "Very Offensive" Coraline:

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Coraline is bored, her parents have time only to type on their computers, and so Coraline discovers her own adventure. { ... } Coraline’s boredom leads her into a dangerous parallel world in which there is an Other Mother and an Other Father who are attentive to her, cook great meals, and have a home full of fantastic toys and moving furniture. They also have buttons for eyes.

Neither the plot nor the setting are the most important parts of the movie, as concerns Christian parents. Rather, of concern is Neil Gaiman’s conception of an alternate world in which the functioning domesticity of a mother who cooks and a father who works is a kind of hell. In the book, the Other Mother punishes Coraline:

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“You needed to be taught a lesson, but we temper our justice with mercy here; we love the sinner but hate the sin” (98).

The speech is clearly a slam at the kind of home where mothers cook and fathers work and parents speak of “sin” and “sinner” and “mercy” and “justice.”

ChristianAnswers sees the animated Anastasia as morally "average", but:

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So graphic are the scenes with Rasputin that I winced numerous times. And as expected (at least in films), it is not God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who comes to the rescue but human courage and strength.

Yes, that's actually a criticism: that the heroes behave heroically.

Cactus Wren wrote:

ChristianAnswers sees the animated Anastasia as morally "average", but:

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So graphic are the scenes with Rasputin that I winced numerous times. And as expected (at least in films), it is not God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who comes to the rescue but human courage and strength.

Yes, that's actually a criticism: that the heroes behave heroically.

I've actually noticed this a lot in the reviews. A lot of these reviewers seem to have some sort of problem with people acting out to save their own or another person's life. What. The. Hell? Seriously, if you saw someone you love about to fall off a bridge, you'd leap in to try and save them, NOT wait for an angel to descend from the heavens and do it for you.

All those news stories about those idiots who wait for divine intervention are suddenly a lot more infuriating to me. :redangry:

Whatever happened to the principle of 'The Lord helps those who help themselves?' My dad believed in praying over the sick, but if one of his children got seriously ill, he took them to the doctor and made sure they took the appropriate medicine. He still prayed over us, but he believed God gave doctors the knowledge to know how to treat diseases.

The same applies to saving someone's life. If you see a person standing in the middle of the road with a car bearing down on them, you don't fall to your knees and pray for God to save them, you run and push them get out of the way, even if it means you might get hit. To do anything less is gross negligence at best and just plain cowardliness at worst.