Review of Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux is the story of a brave little mouse who changes the whole kingdom of Dor. Dor is famous for its soups; it even has a day dedicated just to soup. One tragic Soup Day, a rat disembarks from a ship seeking adventure. Roscuro, the rat, follows the enchanting smell of soup right to the palace, where the royal family is about to enjoy their specially made soup. Unfortunately, Roscuro tumbles into the Queen's soup, causing her to panic, faint, and drown in her soup. The whole castle is suddenly in upheaval. Roscuro is chased by the king's knights, but he gets away.

The king, in grief and anger, bans soup and rats from the Kingdom of Dor. Roscuro is taken away from light, food, and happiness as he is forced to live in Ratworld, an underground town of terrible rats.

In enters Despereaux, a little mouse, even in mice standards, who refuses to be afraid, much to the people of Mouseworld's dismay. Unlike other mice, he isn't timid and loves to read books instead of eating them. When reading a book, he decides he will become a hero and save a princess. Thus, the adventure begins...

I enjoyed how different this movie is. The voice actors were excellent (Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson, and Dustin Hoffman are all part of the cast) The plot is very detailed, with numerous subplots. The use of a narrator (Sigourney Weaver) adds beautifully to the story with moral tidbits. The animation is really well done.

This movie is unlike anything I've ever seen. For a children's movie, it seems a bit too deep. The morals are strong, and I appreciate that. Such themes include forgiveness, value of other people, and the error of dark ways. I did watch the movie with a small child who actually enjoys the movie very much, but it seemed to have some elements that may be hard for a little one to understand. A secondary character "dies", which absolutely made me, yes, me sad. In short, the thematic elements may be too scary or too much to handle.

Overall, I was absolutely enchanted by this movie. I'd say it's a great movie for kids at heart. 

I rate this movie four out of five stars.

Blessings,

Review of Is the Bible Reliable!

Is the Bible Reliable? is the second DVD in the TrueU video series by Focus on the Family. It's similar to the Truth Project, but this series is targeted towards teenagers approaching or in college and, according to the website, it should be thought of as a prequel to the Truth Project. The main purpose of this video, taught by Dr. Stephen Meyer (author of Signature in the Cell), is to build a historical case to show that events in the Bible really did happen. And after watching this, I am so amazed at
how much evidence exists out there that absolutely corroborates with Biblical material.

The DVD is broken down into ten 25-minute lessons on two DVDs as follows:
1. In the Footsteps of Abraham
2. The Exodus: From Egypt to Canaan
3. The Israelites Conquer the Promised Land
4. Israel's Rise to Prominence through David and Solomon
5. The Assyrian Invasion
6. The Babylonian Conquest of Judah
7. Investigating the Historical Authenticity of the New Testament
8. The Reliability of Luke and Acts
9. How Archaeology Backs Up the New Testament
10. The Trial of Jesus

This package consists of two DVDs and one discussion guide to follow along with the DVD. The book includes fill-in-the-blank, matching, and prompt exercises. It also includes quotes, pictures, and little comics relevant to the lessons. My favorite is lesson 10, the Trial of Jesus. Extra-Biblical evidence clearly shows that Jesus and His disciples exists. Yes, when it comes down to the line, believing in Jesus's deity is a matter of faith, but to have proof that He is mentioned in historical texts of the time, His followers were active in spreading Christianity, and that many of the people involved in His trial were prominent and real is great to ground faith in. I wish the DVDs were longer, but when the first DVD (Does God Exist?) was shown at my church, it was evident that the timing was planned for such a group setting. So for the time allotted, I applaud TrueU on covering so much meaningful information in what might seem a short period of time. The teaching is clear and understandable, and I highly recommend this series to anyone, especially teens. This is a must-watch for any college bound individual who seeks to know why they believe in the Christian faith. I am looking forward to watching the upcoming third and fourth DVDs in this series.

All in all, I rate this video five out of five stars. 

Click here to go to the TrueU website, a great additional resource.

Note: Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this video.

Blessings,

Review of Tangled!

This movie is outright amazing. I'm going to say it now- you have to see it. I plan to purchase this movie when it comes out on DVD because it is absolutely awesome.

Synopsis: Rapunzel has been trapped in her tower for almost all of her eighteen years by an ugly witch who poses as her mother and keeps Rapunzel to use her magical hair to keep her young. Rapunzel longs to leave the tower and see the mysterious floating lights which ascend into the sky every year the day of her birthday.
Then enters Flynn Rider, thief extraordinaire. As he runs away after stealing the precious crown of the long lost princess, her stumbles upon Rapunzel's tower. 
Rapunzel takes his satchel containing the crown, bargains with him to take her to the lights, and there begins the wonderful adventure!

The Good: This movie truly is a family-friendly adventure. I loved every minute of it. The story was lighthearted and fun, and I have never laughed so much in a movie theater! This is truly on of my favorite Disney movies ever. I mean, this ranks number two to my all-time favorite, Finding Nemo. I'm a huge fan of family/kids movies, so I was totally captivated by the story. The characters are all awesome and distinct, and the story is so sweet. The villainess, Mother Gothel, was somewhat of a complex character and I think she's (can I say it) my favorite Disney villain. I highly recommend it.

The Not So Good: I honestly can't think of much I didn't like! Mother Gothel attire bothered me just a little bit... That's honestly all I can think of.

Blessings,

Review of TRON: Legacy and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

I had the awesome opportunity to watch two new movies this week with friends and family- TRON: Legacy and Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this week. Both awesome movies that I enjoyed, and below are my reviews. By the way, I know what some of you are thinking... "Wait... Prism reviews movies now??? WHAT?" Well, I rarely go see new movies, but we'll see if I can continue reviewing films.

My ranking:
1. TRON: Legacy
2. Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

TRON: Legacy:

Synopsis: In 1989, Sam Flynn’s father mysteriously disappeared one night after telling Sam about The Grid, a computerized world of programs who look and act like humans! Fast forward to today. Sam is a twenty seven year old who is content with messing around with ENCOM, a mega-corporation. Soon, his father’s old friend shows up saying that he has been paged by Sam’s father. This leads Sam to visit his dad’s old arcade and discover his father’s office, which leads him into The Grid. Sam finds this world a dark place, far from what his father had described. He soon discovers that his father’s creation, Clu, has turned against his father and plotted to take over the human world. Can Sam find his father and get to the portal to the real world in time?

The Good: I absolutely enjoyed this movie. I came into the theatre without a clue about what Tron was or even that it had a predecessor. This movie does well as a standalone; it didn’t take me long to grasp what everything was referring to or how things worked. (But I watched the original after seeing the movie, and a lot of seemingly random things in the movie suddenly made sense) So do I recommend seeing the original Tron before seeing the new movie? Well, yes… but the old one is a little boring at places and it is… well, old…
The new animations were absolutely brilliant. There are light bikes and jets that look really real. Kevin Flynn and Clu were expertly done (both portrayed by the same actor but computer effects are used to make the computerized character look young). The technology and scenery of The Grid is creative and I loved that it all seemed to tie together, as The Grid is supposed to be designed by Kevin Flynn alone.

My favorite character would have to be Quorra, who sacrifices herself for the Flynns several times and is absolutely tough. Quorra is Flynn’s assistant/apprentice who is a program. She is curious and intelligent, and she yearns to see the users’ world. The relationship between Sam and his father was really strong, and they are both willing to sacrifice for each other.
The music was also incredible. It fit the movie perfectly, and I’ve had one of the songs, “Derezzed”, stuck in my head for the past couple of days.

The Not-So-Good: There actually isn’t much I can say I disliked about this movie. The suits did tend to be a little skin-tight, especially on the sirens who suit Sam up for The Grid.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

We’ve all probably read the books and seen the first two movies; this movie doesn’t disappoint.

Synopsis: Edmund and Lucy are back with their cousin Eustace Scrubb in a new adventure in Narnia. The Pevensies have been stuck living with Eustace since the rest of their family went to America. Eustace is an absolutely terrible child- arrogant, mean, and an overall nuisance. The three soon get immersed (literally!) into the world of Narnia and join the crew of the Dawn Treader, whose leader is King Caspian. They must find the seven lords and defeat the ugly green mist that has been making people disappear.

The Good: I have read all of the books and seen both of the movies in this series, and I can attest that this is good material. It’s all adventure and action, and I absolutely loved seeing the characters grow and mature and learn good lessons. The main theme to me seemed to be temptation- overcoming it and yourself. Aslan is as wonderful as ever, the movies capture exactly how I imagined him as I read the books and dreamed of adventuring there.

The new character of Eustace was absolutely spot-on. His attitude changed totally and the actor portrayed him almost exactly as I imagined the character of Eustace to behave. I look forward to seeing how this character continues to grow in the movies to come. The character of Lucy has now matured and struggles with wanting to be beautiful as her sister Susan, and this is her giant to face. Edmund seemed very similar to Peter in this movie for me, he wants power and respect, but he too has changed from the Edmund in the first movie. We also get to see Reepicheep again. He was my absolute favorite character in the whole series when I read it as a child. He is instrumental in Eustace’s transformation from a bratty boy to a real person while keeping his charm. I loved seeing his soft side in this movie.

The movie sticks with the books enough for there to be “Oh, I recognize that!!!” moments yet it is creative enough to be new for old fans. Now, this may be considered a good thing or a bad thing to different people, but I did like the new elements and characters that fleshed out this movie.

I felt it was much for lighthearted and adventure-filled than the previous movies. The movie seemed to have more depth for me while retaining a fun spirit.

And was it just me, or did Caspian seem really different? I mean, this isn’t technically in the Good or Not-So-Good categories, but I felt as if the accent was a lot lighter and more British. Yes, I know the actor is British, but I thought it was a little funny.

The Not-So-Good: Again, not much I can say that I disliked about this movie. Can I say it’s the best of the series thus far? Yes. Can I say it’s the best movie I’ve ever seen? Not quite. The movie seemed boring at times for me, and to tell you the truth, I am a little annoyed by the White Witch now and how she seemed to require appearances in Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to torment Edmund. I mean, if she shows up in the next movie (which is unlikely since Edmund may not appear unless in a cameo appearance), I might moan, “Aw, maaannnn!” right there in the theatre. But to be sure, my annoyance will soon be quelled by the overall excitement and child-like wonder I experience seeing the adventures of Narnia come to life.

Blessings,


P.S. Merry Christmas Eve!!!! Wow, it's almost here! May you all be blessed as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, tomorrow!

P.P.S. This is my 400TH post!!!! Wow!!!!! Thanks, y'all, for following!!!

Movie Time!

Many movies have been out/just came out/ is about to come out. I mean, hel-lo! As long as there is an entertainment industry out there, there's got to be some form of entertainment! =D

Anyways, I recently watched one from each of the above mentioned category.

Bolt, Up, and Kung Fu Panda.

My ratings?

1. Bolt
2. Kung Fu Panda
3. Up

All are family movies. I mean, I don't really want to endorse any PG-13 movies... We all have our parental limits, and I, for one, want to respect that. (And family movies are just plain fun, right?)

Bolt- I love this movie. It was almost completely clean (just has a short bit of what dogs usually do to each other when they meet...) But it's an computer animated tale of a movie dog who gets separated from his beloved owner, Penny. The catch? He's only been living in a world where he thinks he's really the super-dog character in his TV shows. That in itself can show this movie has a lots of laughs. Join the adventure as Bolt, Rhino, and Mittens journey from New York to Hollywood.

I recommend this movie to gals mostly. I mean, this movie is guy-watchable but I mean, a cute, heartwarming story of a dog and his gal. What I really recommend this for? A sleepover with your sisters or best friends or a daddy-daughter night. I watched it with my sisters AND my dad. It rocked.

Kung Fu Panda- Po, an overweight, noodle-serving panda dreams of learning kung fu and meeting the furious five (five animals who are like the superheroes of kung fu). This movie is full of laughs and slo-mo's. As I said above, Po is overweight and this movie has no problem showing it. Several nose-wrinkling scenes when Po's behind gets in the way or squishes a bad guy, he is made fun of for his pudginess, and general jiggling. Is it so terrible? Not really, but it would be better without it. There's also two or three times Po gets hit where he's not supposed two. Also one exclaimation of, "I'm gonna pee!"
A big surprise along with a big laugh at the end won the movie over to me. Plus, I just absolutely LOVE Shifu! Oh, and Oogway! They are just too CUTE!

Probably more of a guy movie. Most of the people who have talked about this movie have either been 1) Little guys or 2) Bigger guys. Girls can enjoy it too, though, (well, duh. Like me) especially those involved in martial arts. You won't believe how many times my sisters and I drew comparisons to different characters to people we knew (whose names will never be disclosed *winks*)

UP: Pixar has no problems with not being clean. All of their movies are highly recommended by me, though some movies could use some things in the storyline. This is one of them. The main character, and old square-shaped widower, is fed up with the life he lives and thinks back to his childhood, when he wanted to go to "The Lost Falls". The way to get there is extremely creative. He gets about a million baloons, stuffs the strings through his chimney, rigs up a way to steer, and he's off. But wait- here enters boy with backpack who is swept away on his journey when he innocently wants to get a badge for "Assisting the elderly". Many lessons are learned, with the help of an endangered bird and talking pooch, as they try to save the bird ("Kevin") from being captured.
My main problem with this story was I had nothing real to hold onto. Fantasy is great, but what I love is when fantasy has elements I can relate to. Would I see it again? Yes. The setting I watched it in wasn't very great.

I recommend this movie to, basically, everyone. Just because it was the lowest of three doesn't mean you shouldn't see it. As I said, Pixar rocks.

God Bless,