Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire

Well I've now seen my second Harry Potter movie. As Dave was out (he usually takes the kiddos to the movies), Trey asked me to take him along with Sean and a neighbor friend. In an effort to step up teaching the kids about money, I had them buy their own treats at the movie ~ they really seemed to enjoy taking their allowances to the counter and choosing their Icee and candy, but I digress!

I was surprised at how "dark" this 6th Harry Potter was (colors, themes, scariness, spells & magic); although it's ben awhile since I watched my first one, so my observation can't be taken as a contrast to the prior shows. Young kids would definitely be scared, like with the evil witch of Wizard of Oz fame (except the whole movie was like the dark forest of monkeys). The story-line was well written with a classic battle of good vs evil and the importance of life and friendships.

When Harry Potter came out in the early 1990's, we had recently become Christians and there was a vocal section in the Christian community appalled at the evil and magic in Harry Potter. We passed on HP at the time, because there was no compelling reason to read/watch the tale at that time, so it was easy to decide that if there were some who thought it bad, that it was just as easy to pass. Ryan & Drew still needle us for not letting them go on a fieldtrip in elementary school to see the first movie nor read the stories!

This year I also finally watched the Lord of the Rings triologies and would say that I don't see much difference between LOTR and HP ... both have powerful evil, magic, and are dark tales of fantasy. Since J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian, and close contemporary of C.S. Lewis (who has written the beloved Chronicles of Narnia and powerful books as Mere Christianity), it seems that the Rings have avoided the stigma of the segment of the Christian community that has taken on J.K. Rowling's Potter. And it can't be simply because Potter glamorizes magic at Hogworth (sp) as the Elven magic of the Rings was quite glamorized as well. Perhaps it's because in Potter, the kids that are learning to master to magic. In any event, it's a topic that is likely beyond me to sort through. But undoubtedly we'll get a bit of grief from Ryan & Drew for years to come on this one!

Back to Christmas preparations ...