Concerning Inkheart

Young Meggie Folchart (Eliza Bennet) has grown up without a mother. She and her dad Mo (Brendan Fraser) are the best of friends, but nothing can fill the hole in her heart where her mother should be. For years she has insisted that her father tell her what he knows about her mother. Does he know why she left? Why can't they find her? Then a man with scars on his face and a strange pet ferret with horns chases her father through the streets, demanding a book that Mo has just purchased from an old book shop. Things quickly become curiouser and curiouser, and before Meggie knows it, she's up to her neck in a fairy tale.

Pros: I really like Mo; he's a great dad. Meggie is also great. Plus, Eliza Bennet is a very good little actress. Aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) and Farid (Rafi Gavron) are hilarious! Capricorn (Andy Serkis) is sufficiently creepy, although not so scary as to make the movie PG-13 material. The story is really cool. The idea of people who can read characters and things out of books into our world is just awesome! I also like the whole underlying theme of the movie - everyone can choose what sort of person they want to be.

Cons: Okay, Brendan Fraser is not a very good actor. I liked Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) much better in the book, although I admit I like his blue eyes in the movie.

My Rating: OK (gross amount of old-lady-cleavage in one shot, scary fantasy things)

Pertaining To Forever Odd

Dean Koontz's beloved character Odd Thomas, a young man who can see the dead and evil spirits he calls bodachs, is back in Forever Odd, where Odd must rescue a kidnapped friend named Danny. Danny is in even more danger than a typical kidnapping victim. He suffers from a disease known as brittle bones that disfigures his body and makes him susceptible to broken bones. When Odd finally finds Danny's kidnapper, he discovers he's up against more than he bargained for.

Pros: I love Odd! This book is full of supernatural things, and not just Odd's abilities. The main theme of the Odd Thomas books seems to be how loving and merciful God is. That people who cling to this world, afraid of what they might find in the next, are missing out. God understands how difficult things are. He understands we're fallen. But as long as we try to be and do good, it doesn't matter how many times we fail; He'll welcome us into Heaven with open arms.

Cons: It's a horror book, although not as bad as the first Odd Thomas.

My Rating: MT (gruesome deaths, mostly-moderate sexual references, language)

Picture from deankoontz.com

Regarding They Came to Baghdad

In Agatha Christie's They Came to Baghdad, Victoria Jones is an indifferent shorthand typist who has just gotten fired. Then she meets a young man in a park. During the course of their conversation, Victoria discovers his name is Edward and he's about to go to Baghdad to take up a secretarial job. Determined to follow him, she uses her talent for telling lies to finagle her way to the far-off city, blissfully unaware of the trouble that awaits her there.

Pros: There are Christian themes at the end of the book that I liked very much. I love Christie's spy stories! (Although I must admit I didn't like Passenger to Frankfurt at all.)

Cons: I don't really like Victoria; she lies too much. I also don't think that the Cold War happened simply because Americans and Soviets didn't understand each other - Americans knew only too well how evil the Soviet Union really was.

My Rating: T (murder, conspiracy)

On Odd Thomas

In Dean Koontz's book Odd Thomas, twenty-year-old Odd has a gift. No, it's not his strange name. Nor is it his beautiful girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn. He has a sixth sense. He not only senses evil, but also has the ability to see dead people - ghosts that are unwilling to let go - and evil spirits he calls bodachs. These spirits are drawn to evil, even evil that hasn't yet been commited. So when Odd spots a strange-looking man in a restaurant with several bodachs on his tail, he is immediately suspicious. Little does he know how twisted and evil his adversary really is - and what horrors he intends to inflict on Odd's hometown.

Pros: This book is extremely well-written. It's the first one I've ever read (and I've read hundreds) that has made me want to read every word. (Except the first crime - ugh.) I love the supernatural/Divine angle in the book. It shows that God cares for us and looks out for us, even though terrible people do terrible things. It seems pretty deep and asks a lot of questions, though few of them are actually answered. (Of course, that's only my opinion; sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.) I love Odd!

Cons: Ugh. Koontz's books are rightfully labeled "horror" in my local library system.

My Rating: MT, but definitely not for the weak of heart (moderate to heavy sexual references and content, gruesome murders and a particularly horrible crime, language)

Picture from deankoontz.com

Concerning Amish Grace

Angry with God over the death of his baby girl, Charlie Roberts (John Churchill) decides to go shoot some other little girls. He targets a school in the Amish community where he serves as the milkman. In the wake of his terrible murders and suicide, the Amish people reach out to his widow Amy (Tammy Blanchard) with their forgiveness and sympathy. But Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is one mother who is not ready to forgive. Her hatred for Charlie runs too deep to be uprooted lightly - she won't betray her daughter by forgiving the man who killed her in cold blood.

Pros: Obviously, this movie is about forgiveness. As such, it's a great movie. There's one scene between Gideon Graber (Matt Letscher) and his surviving daughter Katie (Karley Scott Collins) where he explains to her that God, the Just Judge, will ensure that evil people like Charlie will get what they deserve. Hatred only harms the haters, not the hated. (As a side note, I believe only an insane person would do something like Charlie did - I have hope that he was no longer responsible for his actions and he might end up in heaven someday.)

Cons: The Grabers are fictionalized characters. I did not appreciate Ida's character at all - I thought her whole purpose was to add emotional tension to a story rife with more viable emotional storylines. The acting is, sadly, not very good. Tammy Blanchard and Kimberley Williams-Paisley are very good, but everyone else is, well, not very good. Particularly Gideon.

My Rating: OK (shootings and suicide (not shown), parents arguing)

In Relation To Love Finds a Home

Dr. Belinda Owens (Sarah Jones) has a near-perfect life. She has a wonderful husband named Lee (Jordan Bridges), and a beautiful (matter of opinion) adopted daughter named Lillian (Courteney Halverson). But Belinda can't be perfectly happy - her inability to get pregnant clouds her otherwise-perfect life. Then her old schoolmate, Annie (Haylie Duff), comes for a visit. Annie is pregnant with her first child, and seeing a pregnant friend so close at hand increases Belinda's anxiety.

Pros: The cons are a really long list, so I have to say right now that I like this movie. Lee is great! Lillian's boyfriend, Joshua (Michael Trevino), is really cute. (Even if the actor has distractingly pierced ears!) He's also very responsible and sweet. Annie's mother-in-law, Mary (Patty Duke), is hilarious and acted very well.

Cons: Aaaaaaaaaah! The latest Love Comes Softly movies have had this sort of "squelched girl syndrome" (as Steven D. Greydanus of Decent Films says). They all have women who are restricted somehow by their husbands. I find that extremely annoying. Lillian, despite what everyone says, is not "beautiful," although she can look pretty. Haylie Duff was a terrible choice! She doesn't look "pioneerish" in any sense of the "word." Her skin is too dark, her hair too short and streaked, and her eyebrows too dark for her hair color. Plus, she doesn't act like a pioneer woman - and she certainly doesn't look pregnant! The writing and acting could be better, though I've seen worse.

My Rating: OK (birthing scene)

Picture from movieberry.com

Regarding Bright Star

Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is a fashionable young lady who loves witty remarks. John Keats (Ben Whishaw) is a shy poet who likes jokes, but doesn't care to dance. They're hardly an ideal pair. Yet, Fanny is attracted to Mr. Keats the very first time she meets him - despite his need for a new coat. She determinedly pursues a friendship with him, ignoring the discouragement she recieves from his obnoxious friend, Mr. Brown (Paul Schneider).

Pros: This movie is absolutely gorgeous. I caught my breath both times I saw the scene in the field with the blue/purple flowers. Fanny and Mr. Keats's love story is beautiful and almost entirely chaste (chastity runs deeper than simple abstinence). Mr. Brown's Scottish accent is awesome! The acting is almost impossibly good. Fanny's younger sister Toots (Edie Martin) is very cute and sweet.

Cons: "A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving into a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore, but to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out, it is an experience beyond thought." -Mr. Keats, in a conversation with Fanny. Replace "a poem" with "this movie" and you have what I think of Bright Star. The first time I watched it, I didn't like it. I wanted it to pull me in, to capture my imagination and my emotions. It didn't. The second time I watched it, I was determined to become immersed in it. While even then it didn't affect me like many other movies I've seen, it was a lot better.

My Rating: T (thematic elements)

Picture from movieberry.com

Concerning Springtime in the Rockies

Sandra Knight (Polly Rowles) inherited a ranch from her father. Determined to make a go of it, she attended animal husbandry school and is now fully prepared to take the reins from her foreman, Gene Autry (Gene Autry). She arrives in town with three of her classmates and promptly buys a truckload of sheep from a nearby rancher. What she doesn't know is that the rancher had intended to ship the sheep back east. In fact, he was practically forced to do so at gunpoint - none of the cattle ranchers in the area will tolerate sheep because the animals destroy every range where they graze. It's up to Gene and his right hand man, Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette), to find a way to get rid of the sheep without making their boss or the other ranchers angry.

Pros: I must admit I'm a Gene Autry fanatic. He wasn't a particularly good actor, nor was he drop-dead gorgeous, but his characters were very sweet and gentlemanly, and I like his singing. This movie is funny, especially Frog the dumb sidekick. Sandra is an unusual heroine for that time period - she's not very pretty, and is actually a good actress.

Cons: There's a little too much singing. Some things are over-dramatized - the music, for instance, is extremely annoying at the beginning. Other things aren't done very well.

My Rating: OK ("white lies")

Excerpt from "Springtime in the Rockies", a song from the movie.

Pertaining To When Calls the Heart

Janette Oke's When Calls the Heart is the first installment in her Canadian West series. When the book begins, Elizabeth is a schoolteacher in civilized Toronto. Then her half-brother Jonathon asks her to come all the way to Calgary to teach. Elizabeth reluctantly agrees, but puts her foot down when Jonathon teases about finding her a husband. She is determined never to marry a rough frontier man! Then she meets Wynn - and falls for his deep blue eyes at first sight. But love is never easy on the frontier, as Elizabeth soon discovers.

Pros: This is a pro-life book! Little Andy, the darling mentally challenged boy in Elizabeth's school, is a beautiful example of how special needs people touch everyone around them. I'm also a big fan of Wynn. Elizabeth's animal experiences are hilarious!

Cons: Elizabeth is eerily similar to Marty in Love Comes Softly. I don't really like Janette Oke's style of writing. There's one scene where someone says there's no such thing as a "big" or a "little" sin. The Catholic Church teaches that this idea is wrong - while God died for all of our sins (not just the big ones) and all sins can be forgiven, a white lie only corrodes a person's relationship with God. Something drastic (like a murder) empties the person of God's grace.

My Rating: OK (thematic elements)

**Spoiler Reflections** On Murder On the Orient Express

Murder On the Orient Express fascinated me. Throughout the course of the movie, two big questions are asked. Should ordinary people take the law into their own hands when the law lets them down? Can God forgive every kind of crime?

Twelve ordinary citizens take the life of a man who only escaped being hanged for kidnapping, murder, and other heinous crimes by coercing the DA and other people involved in the trial to hide evidence. Did the twelve people have the right to do this? Ultimately, the answer in real life is no. In a big surprise, the movie gives us the same answer. Mary Debenhem, the governess, tells Poirot that she asked God what she should do when she was hurting from little Daisy Armstrong's kidnapping and murder. She said He told her to "do what is right." She was certain that when Cassetti was dead, she would be happy again. Poirot asks her if she is, in fact, happy. She looks at him with glassy eyes for a moment before she protests in a whisper: "But I did what was right!" This shows that she most certainly is not happy.

Various characters throughout the movie protest that God won't forgive everyone who asks for forgiveness. "Violence against the children" cannot be forgiven, the Scandanavian nurse Greta Ohlsson tells Poirot. The twelve people deeply hurt by Cassetti refuse to forgive him. He was essentially responsible for the deaths of five people very close to their hearts - one of them a lovable little five year old girl. No, they refuse to forgive him. So they make a plan and do what they believe the law should have done years ago: They mercilessly execute him. But Poirot is a Catholic, and Catholics believe that God, in His mercy, will forgive anything if someone sincerely asks for His forgiveness. After a night of reflection and prayer, Poirot decides to let the twelve murderers go free. Why? The movie never answers that part of the question. But it seems to me that Poirot was showing the murderers what they refused to show Cassetti: A reflection of God's mercy.

On We Are Marshall

A tragic plane crash in 1970 wipes out nearly all of Marshall University's football team, along with the coaching staff and several wealthy fans. Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie), the captain of the team who wasn't on the plane because of an injury, rallies the students and rescues the football program from suspension. Then the head coach at the University of Wooster, Jack Lengyl (Matthew McConaughey), decides he can help out. He applies for the head coaching job and gets it - mostly because no one else wants to be the head coach of a team starting from scratch. His off-beat personality and genuine compassion help the players, the university, and the entire town find healing.

Pros: This is a tear-jerker that even men can like. Coach Lengyl is so funny all he has to do is walk into a scene and I laugh. I also really like assistant head coach Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), though Matthew Fox isn't the greatest actor I've ever seen.

Cons: There's little mention of God (though Red goes to sit in a church during one of his "questioning" scenes). The girl (who, luckily, is in very little of the movie) is a bit of an airhead.

My Rating: T (language)

Picture from movieposterdb.com

In Relation To Murder On the Orient Express

Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) boards the Orient Express, a train bound west from Istanbul, with a little help from the director of the line. There he meets the American businessman named Samuel Ratchett (Toby Jones), who offers him thousands of dollars in exchange for protection. Since he doesn't like Ratchett, Poirot refuses him. That very night Ratchett is murdered in his bed. The murderer couldn't possibly have left the train, which is stuck in a snowdrift. Which of the thirteen people besides Poirot in the Calais coach committed the murder?

Pros: There are cool Catholic elements. Poirot holds a rosary as he's saying a beautiful night prayer in one scene, and prays the rosary (albeit while smoking a cigarette) when he needs guidance later in the movie. There's also a neat contrast scene where Poirot's night prayer (the hopeful one of a good person) is juxtaposed with the night prayer of Ratchett (the pleading one of a person who needs forgiveness and protection). The final scene is thought-provoking, though I can't explain here because it will give it away! The story has been simplified from the book.

Cons: One or two things were much more obvious than in the book.

My Rating: T (violent murder)

Regarding You Can't Take It with You

Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold) wants to build a monopoly in weapons production. Only thing is, he needs to buy twelve blocks of land that a fellow businessman was going to use for a factory in order to force a merge with said businessman. It's easy enough to buy eleven of the blocks he needs, but one stubborn old man named Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) won't leave the house on his block. Vanderhof's family and one or two of his friends live with him, and all of them are a little strange. Except Alice (Jean Arthur), his granddaughter, who is also A.P. Kirby's son Tony's (James Stewart) fiancee. Needless to say, things become a little crazy before everything is straightened out.

Pros: I really like Jimmy Stewart. It's pretty funny. The people who live in the Vanderhof house are hilarious, from Alice's mother Penny (Spring Byington), who thinks she's a playwright, to the cook's fiance Donald (Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson), who's an off-beat sort of guy. The message of the movie is great - do what you love or you'll never really be happy.

Cons: Alice's sister Essie (Ann Miller) is really annoying.

My Rating: AGC

Pertaining To The Shadow of the Bear

Once upon a time in New York City... Written by Regina Doman and based on the fairy tale Snow White and Rose Red, The Shadow of the Bear (Book One of the Fairy Tale Novels) is about Blanche and Rose Brier, two sisters who are as different as they can be. Eighteen-year-old Blanche is quiet and fearful, while sixteen-year-old Rose is flamboyant and brave. One night, they meet a mysterious young man who calls himself Bear. Blanche is sure that he's a drug dealer, but Rose and Mrs. Brier invite him to visit them as often as he pleases. As he spends more time with the family, Bear slowly earns Blanche's trust. However, the mysteries that surround him eventually begin to take shape - and threaten to engulf both him and the Briers.

Pros: I could go on and on and on and on. Instead, I'll just say that Bear is pretty much my favorite hero of all time, Rose is an awesome character, Blanche is even better, the whole fairy tale retold aspect of the book is right up my alley, and the chastity, faith, trust, and other Catholic elements in the story are great.

Cons: There are none.

My Rating: T (sexual and drug references)

Picture from fairytalenovels.com

Concerning Stranded

David Robinson (Liam Cunningham) is a preacher who refuses to swear allegience to the crown. Because of this, he and his family are put on a ship and sent to a penal colony in the Pacific Ocean. But then the ship wrecks in a storm. The youngest Robinson, Jacob (Andrew Lee Potts), is placed in a lifeboat, but the rest of the family gets trapped in the hold and left behind. They make it to a nearby island and slowly build a life there. Then, after a period of seven years, a young lady shows up on their shores and brings trouble. A pirate ship is right on her heels, captained by a lieutenant from the prison ship and an unusual first mate - a seventeen-year-old boy named Jakie.

Pros: Um... The scenery and wildlife are stunning. Fritz (Jesse Spencer) is very good looking.

Cons: It's a not-too-good adaptation of Swiss Family Robinson, though they had to change the title because the family is British, not Swiss. The Disney movie is far superior. There are tons of storylines (father/son conflict, Jacob's conflict over choosing family or friends, sibling rivalry, Captain Blunt's (Roger Allam) inexplicable attraction to Lara Robinson (Brana Bajic)), but none are fleshed out. In short, they tried to cram as much as possible into a roughly three-hour movie, but failed to make it work.

My Rating: OK (violence)

**Spoiler Reflections** On Stranded and Swiss Family Robinson

Stranded is a true-to-form Hallmark movie. Cliches, predictable plot "twists," and a little preaching are the name of the game. But this movie goes farther than the typical Hallmark movie - it has the nerve to destroy one of my favorite stories of all time.

I grew up watching Disney's version of Swiss Family Robinson. It took a back seat in my affections only to Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, also a Disney movie. The horrifying extent to which the Stranded filmmakers changed the story of Swiss Family Robinson is immediately obvious. The viewer discovers in the very first scene of the movie that the Robinsons are British, not Swiss, and Mr. Robinson is a criminal convicted of refusing to swear allegience to the crown. He's a preacher and he feels his allegience is only due to God. The movie proceeds to further destroy SFR by replacing Francis with two other children, namely, Sarah and Jacob. (Side note: Why two foreign names (Fritz and Ernst) and two English ones (Sarah and Jacob)?) Then Jacob is separated from the rest of the family during the abandonment of the ship and is raised by pirates. Excuse me while I laugh. I had a crush on Fritz from SFR as soon as I was old enough to notice how good looking he was, so I'm glad he's also good looking in Stranded. Unfortunately, his character is lifeless. Ernst is done well, but I still prefer the gangly, nerdy Ernst to this silent, Latin-spouting fellow. Sarah is a near-pointless addition to the family since she is in few scenes and has almost nothing to offer the story. The parents are annoying compared to the ones in SFR, particularly the father. He spends the entire movie scowling (not that he doesn't have reason to scowl) and is an all-around stick-in-the-mud. Finally, the spunky Roberta from SFR has been replaced by an equally spunky Emily, who is unfortunately a terrible actress. (Plus, the dress she wears in her first scene is far too immodest for a respectable young woman of that time.) Not only that, but the sibling rivalry in SFR has been replaced by one-sided jealousy from Fritz.

  

The worst part of the movie was the endless stream of story lines that went nowhere. Mr. Robinson is suspicious of a native man - but four or five scenes later he becomes a trusted friend. Captain Blunt's preference for Lara Robinson is not only stupid, it's entirely pointless, adding absolutely nothing to the story. Mr. Robinson's conflict with Fritz only lasts about four scenes (thankfully). Fritz and Emily's love story is developed in a few short scenes. (Though, once again, I'm thankful for that; the love scenes are pathetic.) Last of all is the tension between Jacob and his family when the pirates capture the family's home. Vastly (and surprisingly) under-dramatized, this tension is allowed to "build" quickly - and comes to a climax before the movie's true climax. That under-cuts the family tension's claim as the main storyline in the movie.

In short, Stranded is a waste of three hours unless you're the type of person who watches pathetic movies in order to laugh at them. If you want to see a good movie about the Robinsons (though probably one that is in no way, shape, or form like the book), take my advice and watch the Disney version. It will save you a lot of pain.

Pertaining To The Quest of the Fair Unknown

Gerald Morris's The Quest of the Fair Unknown (one of The Squire's Tales) follows the adventures of Beaufils, a young man who was raised in an isolated forest by his mother. On her deathbed, Beaufils's mother begged him to leave the forest and go find his father, a knight in Camelot. So Beaufils sets off to find this mysterious father, though he doesn't know his father's name, his mother's name, or even his own real name. Once he reaches Camelot, Beaufils is caught up in a different quest: The quest for the Holy Grail.

Pros: I'm a big fan of Beaufils. He's very sweet and innocent without being a total idiot. The main woman, Lady Ellyn, is also a great character, though she's a bit too harsh on men. The ending was a pleasant surprise. The witty banter (largely between Beaufils and Ellyn) is funny.

Cons: The Holy Grail is a platter?! The vast majority of priests and hermits are portrayed as crooked, crabby, or crackpots.

My Rating: T (illegitimate children, mild sexual references)

Picture from childrensliteraturenetwork.org

Regarding Airman

In Eoin Colfer's Airman, Conor Broekhart was born to fly. That is, he was born flying. His mother gave birth to him while in a hot-air balloon high above the ground. Because his father is a close friend of King Nicholas of the Saltee Islands, Conor spends his childhood playing in the palace with Princess Isabella. Then he turns fourteen and becomes a witness to treason. He is then banished to Little Saltee, the prison/diamond mine island. He has only one hope of escaping: To fly off the island.

Pros: It's fast-paced and has some surprising twists and turns. I really liked Linus Wynter, Conor's American cellmate, and Isabella, though neither were in the book nearly enough. Its humor is reminiscent of Brian Jacques (Redwall), particularly in the character of Arthur Billtoe.

Cons: While it mentions God, prayer, and such relatively often, it also mentions that "Jupiter" must have helped Conor in one scene. Sometimes killing (in self-defense, etc.) is slightly colored as murder (deliberately killing an innocent person), though there's really a world of difference between the two.

Notes: The Saltee Islands actually exist, though they apparently never possessed a diamond mine, nor have a long history of kings and queens. Nowadays they are privately owned and are famous for their excellent bird-watching.

My Rating: T (intense, aforementioned confusion of murder and killing)

Picture from eoincolfer.com

On That Darn Cat!

Patti Randall (Hayley Mills) is always stirring up the police department with her "hallucinations about people in trouble." So when her cat, D.C., comes home wearing a wristwatch around his neck with "HEL" scratched on the casing, Patti immediately jumps to the conclusion that someone was trying to write "HELP." It naturally follows, in her brain, that the watch belongs to a woman who was kidnapped during a bank robbery. She immediately goes to the FBI and gets Agent Zeke Kelso (Dean Jones) involved, much to the chagrin of her older sister, Ingrid (Dorothy Provine).

Pros: I think this movie is very funny, in a '60s, Disney kind of way. The next-door neighbor, Mrs. MacDougall (Elsa Lanchester) is hilarious. The other side characters, including Patti's friend Canoe (Tom Lowell) and Ingrid's boyfriend Gregory Benson (Roddy McDowall) are also very funny. The story is whacky, which is a good thing.

Cons: Some parts are, admittedly, overdone. The bad guys are a bit much. D.C. is a shade too smart for an animal, but just a shade.

My Rating: OK (teenager smoking a pipe, frightening situations)

Regarding Marple: The Blue Geranium

Can pink geraniums on wallpaper ever turn blue? Are fortune tellers shams or can they predict the future? Was Eddie Seward (Jason Durr) murdered or did he commit suicide? And who killed Mary Pritchard (Sharon Small)? Was it Phillipa (Claudie Blakley), Mary's jealous sister who was once in love with Mary's husband George (Toby Stephens)? Or perhaps George tired of such a nagging, whining wife and decided to be rid of her once and for all. The wrong person is on trial for murder and only Miss Marple can stop an innocent person from being hung.

Pros: Another example of a fine Agatha Christie work, though not as good as many I've read/seen. The acting was very good. I rather liked the inspector. There was a theme of the seven deadly sins woven into the story (though they only dealt with three or so), which I found very refreshing if not quite Catholic.

Cons: Agatha Christie's version was a short story, so the filmmakers naturally had to flesh out the storyline. The things they added were, in my opinion, very obviously not a part of the original story.

My Rating: T (the usual scandalous behavior)

Pertaining To The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

In C.S. Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia), Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are sent to spend the summer with their aunt and uncle - and their horrid cousin Eustace Scrubb. But there's a magical picture on the wall in Lucy's room that sends the Pevensies and Eustace to the magical land of Narnia. Or, more accurately, sends them into a Narnian sea beside the Dawn Treader, a Narnian boat captained by the Pevensies' old friend King Caspian. Caspian has taken a vow to find out what happened to the seven lost lords of Narnia, friends of his father who sailed from Narnia when they were banished by Caspian's uncle, King Miraz, many years ago.

Pros: Lucy is one of my favorite recurring literary characters ever. Her simple trust in Aslan is beautiful. This book is quite exciting, although a very easy read. The imaginary places, creatures, and events are fantastic (if you'll pardon the pun.) The main theme of the book seems to be redemption, one of my favorite things.

Cons: It's a slightly too easy read.

My Rating: AGC

Picture from harpercollins.com

Concerning Jane Eyre (2006)

Jane Eyre (Ruth Wilson) grows up in Lowood Institution, a rather severe boarding school for orphans. She becomes a teacher and soon finds a job as a governess for a little French girl named Adele Varens (Cosima Littlewood). Adele's guardian, Mr. Rochester (Toby Stephens), is moody and rough, but Jane finds herself increasingly attracted to him. Matters come to a head with the arrival of Miss Blanche Ingram (Christina Cole), the local beauty and Mr. Rochester's likely future bride.

Pros: Every movie based on a book must, in my opinion, follow the book as closely as possible to be a good movie. This one gets a B in that category. A vast number of lines and scenes are directly (or nearly directly) out of the book. Ruth Wilson is perfect for Jane. Toby Stephens plays a good Mr. Rochester.

Cons: Adele is more annoying than she should be. She's simply vain in the book; not arrogant as well. They drained the life out of Mr. Rochester in two key scenes. The most important scene in the movie was entirely ruined, not only is it inaccurate according to the book, but it's immoral as well!

My Rating: MT (fleeting, non-explicit sex scene not involving the hero or heroine, thematic elements)

Picture from coverbrowser.com

Alex O'Donnell Now Available!

Once upon a time... there lived a man named Ali Baba, who was hardworking and poor until one night, when a mysterious turn of good fortune overtook him. ~ The Arabian Nights.

Regina Doman, authoress of pro-chastity, pro-life, and other pro-Christian-values series The Fairy Tale Novels, has published another book called Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyberthieves. It's based on the fairy tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (though without the magic, I'm sure) and follows Alex O'Donnell and Kateri Kovach, characters who have appeared in previous Fairy Tale Novel books. All of Regina's books are highly recommended by me to girls over the age of thirteen. Some of the subject matter in the series isn't quite appropriate for younger girls - some of the bad characters are on drugs, etc.

Picture from fairytalenovels.com

In Relation To Jane Eyre

In Jane Eyre, the famous novel written by Charlotte Bronte, the title character struggles through a dismal childhood in her aunt's home and, later, a school for orphans called Lowood Institution. Jane becomes a teacher at Lowood, but soon tires of her life there and advertizes for a new position. She is hired by a Mrs. Fairfax to be governess to a little French girl named Adele Varens. At first Jane finds her new life rather dull Then she meets Mr. Rochester, the master of the house, and everything changes.

Pros: This book is one of my favorite books of all time. There's a dash of humor, a lot of heartbreak, and a wonderful heroine.

Cons: It is, unfortunately, not very Catholic in a lot of its religious parts. (Helen Burns, for instance, has some strange ideas about death and redemption.) It's difficult to truly like Mr. Rochester.

My Rating: T (thematic elements)

Picture from us.penguingroup.com