Summer movies: Entertainment has consequences

It used to be that when Christians evaluated movies, they could be obssessed with factors like the amount of violence, quantity of foul language, and explicitness of sexual activity.  And those features, still matter...to Christians....of course. 

But in our time, movies are more than colored celluloid with action and adventure scenes.  There are no neutral plots, and all the ideas therein have implications....and consequences.

It is with this sobering thought in mind that I wish to commend the movie reviews in World magazine. Of course, they do include the obligatory ratings for sex, violence, and language.  But beyond those, World also provides intepretation of how the film manipulates the viewer's mind and emotions...and that's where worldview comes in. 

So here are thoughts of World reviewers on three of this summer's favorites.

Kung Fu Panda 2, reviewed by Michael Leaser:   "....what drives the story are several characters' pursuit of 'inner peace.'  The means of achieving inner peace in this film's universe is definitely Taoist-oriented and leans toward humanism..."

Midnight in Paris, reviewed by Alisa Harris:  "Midnight in Paris slyly critiques the human tendency to bemoan the emptiness and frivolity of every generation - our propensity to see the foreign as superior to the familiar, and believe that changing our setting can change ourselves."

X-Men: First Class, reviewed by Rebecca Cusey:   "...will mutants choose to value human life or to strike pre-emptively in the human versus mutant war they foresee?  Effects are fun, but gravitas makes a movie great.  The choice between good and evil does not always seem clear-cut at the time.  One man will become Dr. X and another his archrival Magneto.  Who will be the better man morally, as well as physically?"

Just thought you would want you to know.