Tooth Fairy

So, I went on vacation thoroughly planning on maintaining this blog...but failed at that attempt. So, now that my vacation is over, I'm back to blogging about movies...and go figure, this is the first movie that I'm going to blog about...I've really got to broaden my current viewing patterns...

Genre: Comedy and Kids/Family
Run time: 1 hr, 42 min
Rating: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews
Synopsis: "The Tooth Fairy," also known as Derek Thompson, is a hard-charging hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster's dreams, he's sentenced to one week's hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek "can't handle the tooth" - bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers' homes-doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams.


About 10 minutes into this movie I couldn't believe that I was actually watching it. But considering that I was jet lagged and didn't really want to do anything else (especially get my butt up off the couch and change the DVD) I left it in and finished it...and in some ways I'm glad that I did. Although this movie is a bunch of silliness about Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson) who is a hockey player by day and "paroled" tooth fairy by night, there was one scene in the movie that especially stood out to me.


The head Tooth Fairy, Lily (Julie Andrews), is standing in her office ripping Thompson a new one about his attitude and how terrible he is as a tooth fairy. She tells him off for killing kids dreams and ruining their "belief" in all things magical. She tells him that children's imaginations and fantasies "nourish their souls and are the foundations for their dreams."


I started to think about that statement throughout the rest of the movie as Thompson becomes a better tooth fairy, and in the process becomes a better person. Jesus once said "except you become like little children..." now a lot of different people have speculated as to the exact meaning of that statement: did he mean their innocence? their ability to believe easily? Maybe it was both. But this movie reminded me of one thing: childhood is a wonderful time of belief, magic, and dreams. How often do we allow the disappointments of life interfere with the better parts of ourselves? Dreams die and with them so do our "souls." We become angry, bitter people and do our best to make people see the "reality" that is life.


Although the reality of this life is that the world is sinful and is slowly, but surely destroying itself, there is an element of "magic" that can still be found. If we allow ourselves to return to the innocent belief of childhood, we may once again find that although things may not always go our way, God is still very much present and waiting to "heal" our disillusionment and despair.

Nanny McPhee

Woohoo...another "fairy tale"...Sheesh.......


Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Adaptation
Run time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Rating: PG for mild thematic elements, some rude humor and brief language
Starring: Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, Kelly MacDonald, Thomas Sangster
Synopsis: A new nanny enters the household of the recently widowed Mr. Brown and attempts to tame his seven exceedingly ill-behaved children. The children, led by the oldest boy Simon, have managed to drive away 17 previous nannies and are certain that they will have no trouble with this one. But as Nanny McPhee takes control, they begin to notice that their vile behavior now leads swiftly and magically to rather startling consequences. Her influence also extends to the family's deeper problems, including Mr. Brown's sudden and seemingly inexplicable attempts to find a new wife; an announcement by the domineering Aunt Adelaide that she intends to take one of the children away; and the sad and secret longings of their scullery maid, Evangeline. As the children's behavior begins to change, Nanny McPhee's arresting face and frame appear to change as well, creating even more questions about this mysterious stranger whom the children and their father have come to love.


Like most fairy tales, there is a hidden message in "Nanny McPhee", now whether or not this is the message that the author/scriptwriter expected, is really not something I'm going to worry about too much. Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) enters the Brown household to teach the seven children 5 lessons. Now, these seven children are absolutely adorable...some of the cutest kids you could hope to meet, but they are some of the rudest, meanest, sneakiest kids you could ever possibly meet. On the outside they are beautiful, but on the inside they are ugly. When Nanny McPhee arrives, she outwardly portrays the inner ugliness of the children. What is then very interesting - and a key part to the movie - is that as the children increase their inner beauty, Nanny McPhee's outer beauty increases.

This movie reminded me of the God's words to Samuel "Man looks at the outside, but God looks at the inside." Although the children "looked" good, their actions betrayed their true nature. However, as they learned Nanny McPhee's lessons, they truly became "beautiful" people.

So it often is with us - we may look "righteous" on the outside, but it is the heart that interests God. Not until our inner matches our outer, will his work be complete - heaven!