As my selection for Christmas I decided to take advantage of the Christmas sale at Vision Forum. I didn’t have as much money as I hoped to this year but I decided to go ahead and get a couple films. Our family really likes movies, though the preference is definitely different. I grew up watching the classic films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I felt modern films did not really compare to those classics–especially the comedies. Some of my favorites are “Bringing up Baby,” “Midnight,” “The Major and the Minor,” and “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.”

Proeun grew up with comic books, video games and action films. One of the hardest things about having children is putting away your desires and doing what is best for the children. I find this is especially difficult in the realm of entertainment. Films that we feel comfortable with the children watching are few and far between. Ones that we actually enjoy as well are even harder to come by. It has gotten to the point where I feel that even kids movies need to be previewed before the children see them. So many contain ideas and concepts I am not comfortable with, including probably the most common–divorce. But then once we preview the movie it is not as fun to watch it again with the kids.

However I felt reasonably safe with films from Vision Forum. My selections were “Mysterious Islands,” “Pendragon” and “Pilgrim’s Progress.”

“Pendragon” is the story of the Christian church in England in 411 AD. It is a great story with lots of sword fighting and adventure. Luckily we have some hobby horses, wooden swords and a small round table top that has become a shield. It’s great that Two is using his imagination and burning off energy. However we are all living in fear of that wooden sword.

Proeun did not like “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Though the costumes for the trolls and devils were by no means extreme they were there. I know Two has seen scarier stuff, like “Lord of the Rings,” but this for some reason seems scarier to Proeun. Maybe because of the subject matter–Heaven and hell, I don’t know. But I thought it was a pretty good rendering of the story line.

We have yet to watch “Mysterious Islands” about the Galapagos Islands. We are still looking for good family films. My husband is the most picky. Now his favorite is epics. But one thing we agree is that most mainstream films do not fit our families need.