God is Surely Alive: A Movie Review of "God's Not Dead"

"My God's not dead; He's surely alive; He's living on the inside; Roaring like a Lion." The quote is a line from the Christian song God's Not Dead (Like a Lion). For Christians, it is evident that our Lord is completely alive (more so than us!), and He is guiding history and the future. Yet there are billions worldwide that reject and speak against the belief in any supernatural being. 

The film God's Not Dead mainly depicts a freshman college student who is instructed by his professor to defend his stance on God's existence. Although it gained much criticism from the secular community (which is hardly surprising), the film had a great box office success with over $8 million during its opening weekend.

The movie includes Shane Harper as college student Josh Wheaton, Kevin Sorbo as Prof. Jeffery Raddison, and Trisha LaFache as journalist Amy Ryan.

SUMMARY

   God's Not Dead opens with wordless introductions to the various characters of the film, playing actor Shane Harper's song Hold You Up in the background. This gives the audience an overall, general feel of the characters.

   The film really starts to get going when college freshman Josh Wheaton goes to get signed-up. After he tells one of the college workers that he is taking Professor Raddison's philosophy class, the worker notices Josh's cross necklace. He says that Josh might want to consider switching classes, bearing in mind that Raddison's class would be like the"Roman Colosseum" for Josh (with "people cheering for [his] death."). However, Josh sticks with the current class.

   Josh sits down for the first session of Raddison's philosophy class and discovers why exactly he was being warned. The professor hands out blank pieces of paper and tells them to sign their names and write the statement "God is dead." Everyone does it. That is, everyone except Josh Wheaton. 

   So atheist Professor Raddison and Josh come up with a challenge. Josh will be given three twenty-minute sessions in which to present his case for a true and living God. After some thought and consulting a local pastor, Josh takes up the challenge, against the wishes of his parents and girlfriend. His reasons are that he wants to be a witness to his fellow students and to stand up for God. He uses C.S. Lewis' excellent quote, "Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief."

   After this, several more characters enter the picture. Mark is a shrewd, selfish businessman. His sister Mina, a Christian, is in a relationship with the atheist Prof. Raddison. Mark and Mina's mother suffers from dementia, who gives a surprisingly clear refutation to her son's arguments concerning his life and hers. 

   Also included is Mark's girlfriend Amy who is a humanist, liberal reporter/blogger. She interviews Duck Dynasty stars Willie and Korrie Robertson, attempting to hurt their reputation as hunters. Later, she makes a discovery about herself that brings her to a stressful collapse.

   There is also Ayisha, a young Muslim woman who has secretly converted to Christianity. The final side characters are Rev. Dave and his missionary friend Rev. Jude, who are trying to visit Disney World. 

   Eventually, Josh learns of Jeffery Raddison's troubled childhood, which led him to a hatred of Christianity. The third session of Josh's defense of God is turned into a heated debate with the professor. 

   The film ends with the Newsboys dedicating their song God's Not Dead (Like a Lion) to Josh.

   A final message before the credits encourages viewers to text the words "God's not dead" to everyone they know.

CONTENT

   For a film rated PG, there are several tense and somewhat violent moments. An ill woman breaks down in screams and sobs after fully realizing the reality of her approaching death. There are several verbal fights, including screaming, mostly between Prof. Raddison and Josh. Also, a young woman is smacked twice by her father and forced from their apartment building. Closer to the end, a person is hit by a car and we briefly see some blood.

   There is no language in the film and only a kiss or two between an unmarried couple.

   While God's Not Dead is one of the best Christian films I have seen in a while, there were some flaws in the religious aspect. Certainly, the Christian message was strong and undoubtedly will come off that way to audiences. However, there are a few flaws in the arguments, as well as little biblical evidence during Josh's sessions. He relies somewhat heavily on evidence from theists, rather than born-again Christians. Also, towards the end of the film, a dying man is told that he can "accept Jesus." The saving grace from Jesus Christ is something He gives us, not something we earn ourselves. Though we humans have free will, Christ chooses us, not the other way around. 

   Also, really every non-Christian character is portrayed in a negative light: the cruel businessman, an abusive Muslim, an embittered atheist professor, a despairing humanist reporter, etc. I know many secular people who are kind and have good morals (on a human level). Are they saved by Christ? No. Are they cruel and abusive? No. Are there non-believers like that? Certainly, yes. I think the point of portraying secularists the way they did was to further show the hopeless reality of a life without God, once everything is boiled down. People without the LORD are always empty, though they can easily cover it up and ignore their emptiness. 

   And yet there is a lot of good in the movie. For one thing, the main focus of the film is one Christian's risk when defending God before a class full of skeptics. There are also some good arguments that can be used in favor of an intelligent Creator, though most of them are not straight from Scriptures.

   As can be expected, the secular society really smashed this film with their criticism and bad reviews. As I said earlier, this is not surprising. One secular review said that God's Not Dead was actually a disaster of a film. Many others have said that it is full of hateful, Christian propaganda. We can expect these lies from a world that is embittered toward God. Matthew 10:22 tells us, "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved." Josh Wheaton is a good example of this verse. He is persecuted by his professor because of his stand for Christ, but God promises to bless the believer who is faithful to Him. 

   However, secular reporter Steve Pulaski from Influx Magazine said, "God's Not Dead has issues, many of them easy to spot and heavily distracting. However, it's surprisingly effective in terms of message, acting, and insight, which are three fields Christian cinema seems to struggle with the most." [1] If you would like to read a review from a secular viewpoint, I would suggest this one. It was given a "C+" rating and has a somewhat fair review of the film.

   The acting, however, displayed some of the finest talents in Christian film. The acting of Kevin Sorbo and Trisha LaFache were particularly excellent. Next time a secular acquaintance tells you Christian films have terrible acting, simply give them God's Not Dead as a good example. The film included the talents of two veteran television actors: Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Andromeda) and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman).

   With some admittedly visible flaws, as well as both emotional and physical violence, God's Not Dead is not a perfect movie. To be honest, no movie is! It may not even be one you want younger children to see. Yet it is a wonderful film and one of the few Christian films that has done as well as it did. It is obviously a much better choice than many of today's films, and it is one that has a rarely positive message.

   I thoroughly enjoyed God's Not Dead, and I pray it can be used as a way to gain a witnessing opportunity for the broken and the lost souls of this troubled world.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Length: 113 minutes

Rating: PG (for thematic material, brief violence and an accident scene)

Director: Harold Cronk

Producers: Michael Scott, Russel Wolfe, Anna Zielinski

Music: Will Musser (score)
Year of release: 2014
Primary audience: Pre-teens, teens, adults

[1] "God's Not Dead." Influx Magazine (www.influxmagazine.com).

 http://influxmagazine.com/gods-not-dead/ Retrieved October 11, 2014.

The Boy Who Became a King: A Movie Review of "The Sword in the Stone"

Most everyone knows of England's mythical hero King Arthur, his wife Queen Gwynevere, and the Knights of the Round Table. But how did Arthur become the great and legendary king everyone knows him as? Disney's classic animated film The Sword in the Stone retells T.H. White's book about the boyhood of Arthur.

The Sword in the Stone received an Academy Award nomination for George Brun's musical score. The songs were done by the very duo behind the award-winning songs of Mary Poppins. The film stars the voices of Rickie Sorensen; Richard Reitherman; and Robert Reitherman as Arthur (nicknamed "Wart"), Karl Swenson as Merlin the magician, and Junius Matthews as Merlin's pet owl Archimedes.

SUMMARY

   The movie opens with England's king dying, without an heir of any kind to leave behind. However, a magical sword appears in an anvil, which bears an inscription that says whoever removes the sword is the rightful king of England. And yet no one can remove it. The legendary sword is forgotten and Great Britain enters into the Dark Ages.

   A long time later, a young orphan named Arthur is living with a grumpy retired knight named Sir Ector, and his bully son Kay. One day, while assisting Kay on a hunt, Arthur (or Wart, as everybody has named him) causes an accident, and Kay misses his targeted deer. The arrow from Kay's bow went into a dark forest and Wart is forced to go after it.

   While looking for the arrow, Arthur stumbles upon a little old cottage. Inside, he meets the powerful magician Merlin and his talking owl Archimedes. Merlin tells Arthur he is prepared to become the boy's tutor. Arthur is interested but reluctant. Merlin and Archimedes then accompany Arthur back to Sir Ector's dilapidated castle.

   Later, Sir Pellinore, a friend of Ector's, comes to the castle bearing wonderful news. The winner of the New Year's Day jousting tournament is to become king of England. Ector decides to get Kay into rigorous training for the tournament, making Arthur Kay's squire.

   In order to begin teaching Arthur, Merlin uses magic to continue Arthur's chores while they leave the castle. Afterwards, they have amazing adventures as they are transformed into fish, squirrels, and birds. Arthur is taught about wit, wisdom, love, and courage during the lessons. 

   During one lesson, Arthur as a bird finds himself trapped in the cottage of Mim, a witch of dark magic. Coming to the rescue, Merlin and Mim engage in a battle of wits. Each of them turns into some sort of creature in order to gain the upper hand over the other. Merlin reigns triumphant even with treachery and lies from Mim, as he infects her health as a bacteria. This further enforces his lesson of cunning for Arthur.

   Finally, the day of the great tournament comes. But Arthur forgot Kay's sword in the tavern at which they were staying. Arthur searches for another sword and finds one in an overgrown churchyard. He pulls the sword from an anvil, as light shines down on him from an undefinable source. 

   When he takes the sword to Kay, Ector takes a look and realizes what sword it is. Arthur leads a large group of people back to the churchyard, and he places to sword back into the anvil. Many men attempt to pull it out, but none can. Finally, Sir Pellinore gives Arthur a chance to prove himself. 

   The boy removes the sword from the stone and is declared as king of England. He begins his reign using the lessons taught by his wise tutor Merlin.

CONTENT

   Since The Sword in the Stone is a Disney cartoon, the violence is rather minimal. There are some sword fights and jousting, but the most injuries anyone suffers are a bruised head or a fall from their horse. Mim tries to harm Merlin during their duel, using dangerous animals as ways to destroy the wizard. She might also come across as frightening to younger children when she turns herself into different creatures.

   Aside from some minor name-calling (such as "Wart"), there is no foul language in the movie.

   There is a scene when Mim turns herself into a beautiful woman and Arthur is amazed by her appearance. Also, while squirrels, Arthur and Merlin run into a pair of female squirrels. During this, Merlin sings the song The Most Befuddling Thing, which is all about love and romantic feelings. While the song is relatively harmless, parents might not want their children getting their views of romance from Disney. However, this could be a good place to discuss the world's definition of love versus a biblical one.

   Since Merlin is a wizard and Mim is a witch, both obviously use magic. Merlin declares his magic as good and helpful, while Mim openly brags that hers is dark magic. Either way, sorcery of some kind or another is heavily involved in the film. There are no real-life spells used, but Merlin uses several magical chants throughout the film. Parents will have to judge whether or not they believe this is appropriate for their kids.

   While the songs aren't Disney's best, there are a few that are enjoyable. These include Higitus Figitus, That's What Makes the World Go Round, and Mad Madam Mim. The songs, as I stated above, are from the same two brothers who penned the music for Mary Poppins.

   Sword in the Stone is definitely not my favorite Disney film, though it did have the personal touch of Walt Disney himself. I do find it interesting and pretty good. It is a relatively clean film, unlike many so-called "family" movies of today. Depending on your personal decisions about magical content, this is a great movie for kids and families.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Length: 79 minutes

Rating: G

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Producer: Walt Disney

Music: George Bruns (score), Richard & Robert Sherman (songs)

Year of release: 1963
Primary audience: Kids, family