Standing Against Selfishness, Witnessing for Truth, and Knowing the Reason for the Season: A Faith- Based Look at 'The Pee- Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special.'

 Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience! Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
Sorry this Christmas- related entry is coming so late, I was UNBELIEVABLY busy this Christmas season, and could barely get it out at all!

 I will be continuing a series of entries on this blog that I call "A Very 80's Christmas." I started it last year with my look at 'He- Man and She- Ra: A Christmas Special,' but my computer died on me so I had to put the series on hold after that.
Well, now I've got a new computer, and am ready to dive right back into my faith- based look at certain 80's Christmas specials. Unfortunately, my planned third and final entry for this series will have to wait until next Christmas, so you'll just have to be patient for that one! Sorry! 

Anyway, today, I'm going to take things on an admittedly rather weird note by looking at the Christmas special for the incredibly surreal TV series 'Pee- Wee's Playhouse.'

It was a children's show that ran in the late 80's and involved the incredibly eccentric man- child Pee- Wee Herman (Played by Paul Reubens, and yes, I'm fully aware of the scandals he was involved with which led to the show's cancellation), and his various friends, human and puppet alike, interacting with each other in his big Playhouse. Practically everything in the Playhouse was alive and talking, from the furniture to some of the food in his fridge to even a section of the floor! In each episode, there is a "Secret word" which, if spoken by a character over the course of the episode, causes everyone in the Playhouse to loudly scream (In this Christmas special, the word in question is "Year").
Needless to say, this was a weird, weird show, but funny and pretty memorable. It also gains points for being an early career role for a young Lawrence Fishburne, who plays Pee- Wee's buddy Cowboy Curtis.

The Christmas special, made in 1988, was pretty straightforward in terms of plot: After a REALLY snazzy opening musical number featuring the UCLA Men's Glee Club singing like a Marine Choir, we see that it's Christmas Eve in the Playhouse, and Pee- Wee and his pals are preparing for it in various ways. Along the way, various guests drop by to offer presents and well- wishes to Pee- Wee and co., from usual supporting characters on the show to a whole plethora of celebrities making cameos. We see them all go through all kinds of holiday and winter- related activities (From interesting ways to make homemade Christmas cards, to a nice Hannukah moment, to various games that can be played in the snow), and Pee- Wee making his gigantic list of presents he wants from Santa.
Then, in the end of the special, Santa himself shows up, and it leads to a quite nice and heartwarming ending and a merry Christmas for all!

This short is absolutely jam- packed with cameos from 80's celebrities. Admittedly, most of the celebrity guests seen in it are now either dead or has- beens, though a few of them are still rather relevant today (i.e. Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Cher), and the episode uses most of them in pretty funny and clever ways, sometimes to sing a song, other times to just talk with Pee- Wee for a bit. The use of the late Dinah Shore in particular makes me laugh HARD every time I see it!

It can also feature at times some subtle humor aimed squarely at adults. For instance, the first guest/ visitor Pee- Wee receives at the Playhouse is his lovely friend Miss Yvonne (A recurring supporting character on the show), bearing a gift. Always fashion- forward, she shows up with a new hairstyle that has mistletoe on it to ensure that she gets as many kisses as possible from the others there. A number of the Playhouse characters volunteer for this, and Pee- Wee chimes in, "So, Miss Yvonne, before you start makin' out with everyone in the Playhouse, how about forking over the gift?"
Speaking of gifts, there's a pretty funny subplot in which each and every guest who comes to the Playhouse over the course of the special (Both the recurring characters from the show, and the celebrity guests) gives Pee- Wee a fruitcake as a present. Making it especially funny are Pee- Wee's reactions to each one (Paul Reubens has such an expressive face), the heavy metal "CLANG" sound effects used whenever Pee- Wee sets one of those Yuletide monstrosities on a table or shelf, and how this dilemma with all the unwanted fruitcakes is ultimately resolved at the end of the show in a quite clever way.

Basically, the 'Pee- Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special,' while bizarre, nevertheless is very funny and enjoyable as an "Off the beaten path" Christmas special. Just don't expect a lot of high drama from a show with talking puppet furniture.

In spite of how weird at times this special is (Not to mention how weird its star is), it does have some pretty good Scriptural lessons.

First up, this special earns some serious cool- points for the fact that it at one point quite unashamedly talks about what Christmas is truly meant to celebrate. Near the end of the special, Randy (A mean little marionette who acts as kind of a recurring antagonist on the show) attempts to sabotage Pee- Wee's lighting of the Playhouse's Christmas tree, on the grounds that he hates Christmas because he believes was just made up by corporations to "Exploit consumer guilt." Pee- Wee points out that this is wrong, and has his friend the Magic Screen shows a video of a Nativity play and explains that it is celebrating the birth of the Christ- child in Bethlehem and the Wise Men bringing Him gifts. Randy is noticeably moved by this, and even thanks them for setting him straight on the matter.

We as Christians should similarly be prepared to stand against the world's lies about the faith and the Savior it's geared around. 1 Peter 3: 15 says "Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it." That's what Pee- Wee and the Magic Screen do for Randy, and that's what we all should be prepared to do to any who may have questions or misconceptions about our faith.

The special also offers a good lesson on the problems that selfishness can cause, shown in two parts. Right from the start, Pee- Wee's only caring about making his Christmas list consumed his thoughts so much in the beginning of the special that he completely forgot to put up the Playhouse's Christmas decorations, which he laments as a direct consequence of only thinking about himself; Fortunately, a well- placed wish to his pal Jambi the Genie (Did I mention that this was a REALLY weird show?) enables the Playhouse to be magically decorated in seconds thanks to Jambi's magic. Then, it's really driven home in the very end of the special: Santa arrives at the Playhouse, having given Pee- Wee every gift on his massive list. However, Santa points out that he spent so much time making all the MANY gifts on Pee- Wee's list that he couldn't make any for the other children of the world, and asks if Pee- Wee would be willing to let Santa have his presents and give them to all the children. Pee- Wee is at first hesitant about this, but then remembers his own words from earlier in the special: "Christmas is the time when we should be thinking about what we can do for others," and so he agrees to let Santa give his presents away. Santa is so impressed with Pee- Wee's selfless generosity that he lets Pee- Wee ride with him in the sleigh and help him deliver the presents that night, and the episode ends with them happily doing that while flying around the world.

The Bible is littered with condemnations of selfishness. 1 Corinthians 10:24 says "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." Also, Proverbs 11:25 says "A generous person will prosper; Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed." As Christians, we know that the truest joy and happiness comes from putting others before ourselves, and that especially holds true during the season of Christmas as we celebrate God being willing to give us the ultimate gift of His Son coming to Earth to eventually save us from our sins. So, we too should be more willing to give than to receive. Acts 20:35 points out the exact point, when it says "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give, than to receive.'"

That sums up my look at the 'Pee- Wee's Playhouse' Christmas special, an odd but fun Yuletide gem which teaches great messages on putting others before ourselves and always being prepared to witness to others as to the truth of Jesus.

That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. I'm working on my Top 10 Movie Characters of 2022 list, so keep an eye out for that entry when it comes.
Until then, happy New Year, and may God bless us all!

Focus, Courage, and Leaning on the Word: A Christian's Guide to Halloween Horror Nights.

Hi everyone, and happy Halloween from the Nightcrawler Experience!
This will be an unprecedented sort of entry for this blog; It doesn't involve a movie (Directly, anyway), TV show, book, or video game. It involves a seasonal event at a theme park.
I am a devoted fan of Universal Studios' annual "Halloween Horror Nights" event. This is in fact my thirteenth year of attending it. I went each year from 2007 through 2010, for one night in 2014 (I was only able to hit about half the Houses that year, but my friends and I made good choices on which ones to hit), then each year from 2015 to the present, including the sort of quasi- year they had in 2020, in which they didn't technically have the event due to the pandemic, but opened a couple of the planned Houses during regular park hours (It was christened "Halloween Horror Lite" by fans for that reason).

(Credit for this image goes to the user HorrorUnearthed on the Halloween Horror Nights wiki at https://halloweenhorrornights.fandom.com/wiki/Halloween_Horror_Nights_31?file=3E0A51B3-337C-4EB3-8E6F-5FD6214C62DC.jpeg)

First, I might as well describe it for those who are unfamiliar with the event:

Halloween Horror Nights is an annual Halloween event they have at the Universal Studios theme park, after normal park hours. It was first held in 1991, though that first year it was known as "Fright Nights." It's been held every year since, if you again count the quasi- event they held in 2020.
 While a few of Universal Studios' normal rides are open during the event (Mainly the really popular ones like 'Revenge of the Mummy,' 'Men in Black: The Ride,' and 'Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit'), people tend to come to Horror Nights more for the terrifying special features it has. The big focus of the event is on the Haunted Houses (Sometimes known as "Mazes," even though you travel in a normal walking path through each of them), scattered throughout the park, some based on previous intellectual properties like movies or TV shows, while others are original concepts that the events' writers came up with. After waiting in line like you would for a ride, you eventually enter the Houses, and make your way through them, with performers known as "Scareactors" popping out at you at random points in each room. Each House takes approximately 3-5 minutes to walk through, and they're usually pretty dark and there is NO flash photography or video recording allowed.
A nice thing about the event is that, to ease the tension a bit, each year usually features at least one "Scary/ funny" House that blends laughs with screams through the use of dark humor in various forms.

In addition to the Houses, there are also what are known as "Scare Zones." These are areas in the normal walking spaces of the park which each have a special theme and their own Scareactors who might similarly jump out at you or lunge at you, but whom you can also take pictures of or with if you so choose.
The third unique feature to Halloween Horror Nights is that there is often at least one live show each year. For decades, there was 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure,' which had the famous movie duo and their time- traveling phone booth hilariously satirizing whatever movies, shows and celebrities were big that year. Sadly, it ended in 2017. The performance dance troupe known as Academy of Villains have also had a few shows at Horror Nights in recent years, but that too ended a couple years ago when the troupe was forced to more or less disband amid a "Me Too"- esque scandal. There is frequently also a magic show of some sort, and they've recently started having a lagoon show in which the fountains and bursts of water on the theme park's lagoon are combined with creepy holographic images projected onto them to create a nice little show.
Another element that Halloween Horror Nights often has is an "Icon," a scary original character who acts as the host/ Master of Ceremonies for that year. For this year, they're bringing back an evil being known as "The Pumpkin Lord" who is kind of the master of Halloween, and first debuted last year in the marvelous "Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin" House.
One more just generally cool perk about Halloween Horror Nights is the specialty foods and drinks they serve at the events.  As a matter of fact, from what I've heard, the profits made off of HHN's specialty drink sales alone make it one of Universal's biggest moneymakers of the entire year! While I can't speak for the drinks (I can't hold alcohol very well, and by the end of the night am usually battling fatigue already, so I don't want to have any alcohol in my system when I'm driving home to worsen things), the foods are usually awesome, and this year they've seriously outdone themselves! I highly recommend the Pizza Fries (French fries topped with cheese, marinara sauce, pepperoni, and often bits of hamburger), as they are a longtime staple of Horror Nights for a good reason. Another French Fry- related dish which they debuted this year that is pretty good are their "Petrified rat tails" (Funnel cake fries topped with crab dip and chopped scallions). One dessert item I'd suggest avoiding is the "Major Sweets' Ice Cream Sandwich," which is a quite large ice cream sandwich with two candy- corn- shaped cookies (With a cute face drawn on them) and candy- corn- flavored ice cream. It tastes really good and all, but the cookies are too thick and hard to really work for an ice cream sandwich, and the ice cream melts FAST.

Here are the Haunted Houses they have this year, and my thoughts on them:
1. 'Halloween.' A walkthrough of scenes from John Carpenter's classic 1978 horror film of the same name, in which you'll be face- to- face with the horrifying killer Michael Myers. It's quite similar to when they did a House based around that movie back in 2014, but with some new twists added. There are loads of scares in this one, as Michael Myers is practically EVERYWHERE in it in one form or another, and other Scareactors playing other characters from the film (i.e. Laurie Strode, Dr. Loomis) will occasionally pop out at you as well. A small weakness this House has is that many of the scares, especially those tied directly into memorable scenes from the movie (i.e. The scene in the end when Dr. Loomis empties a pistol into Michael Myers until the lunatic is knocked out a window by the force of the bullets), depend on you arriving at certain points in the House at just the right moment.

2. 'Bugs: Eaten Alive.' This original House, which is the token "Scary/ funny" House this year, puts you in a 1950s- style "House of the Future" which boasts of using a cutting- edge new form of pest- control technology called "Exterminair" that supposedly kills pest insects AND cleans/ purifies one's home and air at the same time. As you can probably guess, it turns out to have (If you can forgive the pun) a few "bugs" to work out. As you progress through the House, swarms of vicious, hyperaggressive bugs altered by exposure to "Exterminair" descend upon you, and many quickly mutate into giant abominations as big as a person if not bigger. Let me tell you, this House ROCKED! It had scary and gross moments (From the Scareactors playing big mutated bugs, from ones playing their tormented victims, AND at times from special effects), some funny moments largely centering around the 1950s aesthetic they used, and impressive set and character designs. The only thing I'd have improved was, while there were a good variety of insects seen wreaking havoc in the House (i.e. ants, flies, bedbugs, LOTS of spiders and cockroaches, etc.), there were no mosquitoes at all and only I think one use of bees/ wasps/ hornets. I'd imagine seeing more of those types of bugs mutated by the effects of "Exterminair" could REALLY get some screams from people! Just picture a scene with a giant mosquito completely sucking a person dry! Oh, well, a wonderful House anyway. 

3. 'Universal Monsters: Legends Collide.' For the last few years of Horror Nights, Universal has featured Houses that wonderfully incorporate their classic movie monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.), and they are now continuing that trend with this House. In this one, we find ourselves caught in the middle of a three- way battle royale between Dracula, the Wolf- Man and the Mummy, as all three of them are duking it out over possession of a magical Egyptian amulet; the Wolf- Man thinks its power could cure his curse, Dracula thinks it could enable him to survive exposure to sunlight, and the Mummy is the one it belongs to in the first place and isn't too eager to part with it. This house was great, large and scary, but a weakness it has is that I'd say it relies WAY too much on the Mummy appearances, at the expense of the other two monsters. So, while you have the Mummy lunging at you in almost every room, Dracula doesn't seem to appear at all until near the end. One plus to it is that the final room in it varies a lot in depicting which of the three monsters ended up winning the battle (My first time hitting it, Dracula was the winner, but my second visit ended with the Wolf- Man on top), so multiple visits might be required in order to see each outcome.

4. 'Spirits of the Coven.' Similar to 'Bugs: Eaten Alive,' this too is an original House which is a period piece, though this one is set in the 1920s; Evil witches disguised as beautiful 1920s "Flapper girls" lure you into their coven's speakeasy, only to then attempt to make you the key ingredient in their foul brew. Even though this House is not very popular among fans, I must say, I personally LOVED this one! The costume designs and set pieces were really fitting for its historical setting, and there were loads of scares. However, the best thing it had going for it (Besides its clever and original concept/ setting) is how well it gradually amps up the intensity as you proceed through it. It starts by seeming like a typical 1920s speakeasy in terms of its appearance/ set design, the flapper girl witches seem like beautiful normal dancers who will maybe just jump at you a bit, and the other employees there (i.e. The bartender, the piano man) also seem like normal people who'll maybe just do a little jump and growl at you. Then, as you proceed further in, the place looks seedier and more dangerous, with dark rooms and assorted corpses and body parts of previous "Customers" on display (i.e. One section which looks like the speakeasy's gambling room has a roulette wheel with a severed head on top of it), and with the girls now looking more haggard and aggressive. Finally, by the last few rooms, it appears to be more like a decrepit dungeon, and the witches have completely shed their past disguises and now lunge at you shrieking in their hideous, cronelike "True" forms. In short, I highly recommend this House, it's probably my favorite this year.

5. 'The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare.' This House is based around the songs and music videos of the rap artist known as "The Weeknd." His songs and videos often contain horror elements, and this House has us walking through scenes from several of them. It's recommended that you watch at least a few of the music videos of the songs from his 'After Hours' album first in order to understand what you see in this House (In particular, the videos "Heartless," "In Your Eyes," "Too Late," and "Save Your Tears," as well as the "After Hours" short film). If you just go in blind, figuratively speaking, you won't have a clue what's going on. That being said, it does have a few memorable moments, such as a scene in which you seem to almost get hit by a subway train and a Hall of Mirrors portion. So, an alright House all in all.
6. 'Fiesta de Chupacabras.' This original House puts you in south of the border, where a small Mexican village has what appears to be a big annual party, but it is in fact designed to lure tourists in to be used as sacrifices for the Chupacabras (Monsters from Mexican folklore, usually depicted as slaughtering and drinking the blood of goats, but these varieties seem to be hungrier for humans). This House worked pretty well, as the village seemed quite realistic in terms of its layout, it really feels like you're in the middle of a Mexican block party between the music and the regular sounds of fireworks going off, and the townspeople lunge at you with machetes and wearing creepy fiesta- type masks for good scares. When the Chupacabras first really show up halfway into it, they look awesome! They're extremely well- made animatronics that look sort of like a cross between sabretooth tigers and giant rats, and they'll scare you out of your mind every time they pop out! A good House I recommend.
7. 'The Horrors of Blumhouse.' Horror Nights has a couple times in the past made Houses dedicated to the horror films put out by the studio Blumhouse, and this one has you walking through scenes from two of their more recent hits: 'Freaky' (Which I talked briefly about in my 'Top 10 Favorite Movie Characters of 2020' list, it's a horror- comedy film in which a shy teenage girl switches bodies with an aging serial killer for a day) and 'The Black Phone' (A more serious film in which a boy in the 1970s is kidnapped and imprisoned by a different serial killer, and soon discovers that a disconnected telephone in the basement he's trapped in enables him to hear the voices of the killer's past victims who try and give him advice on how to escape). Pretty good House with lots of scares and mostly good usage of key scenes from both movies, but the only small problem is, the section devoted to 'Freaky' feels pretty short while the section devoted to 'The Black Phone' feels quite long. Though, perhaps that's more of a personal gripe due to the fact that I liked 'Freaky' as a movie somewhat better than 'The Black Phone.'

8. 'Hellblock Horror.' This original House has you entering a prison in which the inmates are in fact monsters, that are about to break out. Mostly a decent House. The set pieces usually aren't very remarkable, but a plus it has is that its character designs, especially for the inmates, are extremely diverse. Some of these monstrous inmates resemble demons, others look like aliens, others look like zombies, still others look like human/ animal hybrids, and so on. It even includes some besties from past years of Horror Nights! Could be worth a visit, but not if doing so would prevent you from hitting one of the other Houses I more highly recommend.

9. 'Dead Man's Pier: Winter's Wake.' This House, an extension of the popular past Scarezone 'Dead Man's Wharf,' has you in a New England fishing village in which undead sailors and fishermen have emerged from their watery graves in search of revenge. I have sort of mixed feelings on this one. The costume/ makeup effects for the ghostly sailors and fishermen look alright (A couple of them REALLY nailed me as I went through it, such as one who appears to be hung on a runner hook and swings back and forth), but nothing to really write home about. However, where this House truly shines is that its set designs/ environments look simply GORGEOUS! Between the sights, sounds and even smells, you will feel like you really are passing through a chilly New England fishing town, and the doomed ship which the undead sailors came from and which you board in the last portion of the House looks so beautifully detailed, like something that could be seen on a legitimate movie set. I hope whoever worked on its sets gets some sort of award for it. Definitely worth a visit.

10. 'Descendants of Destruction.' In this House, you're making your way through the subway tunnels of a postapocalyptic New York City, dodging mutants who think you look good enough to eat. One thing to give this House credit for is that its Scareactors are really bringing their A game! They put a lot of "Oomph" into their performances, really radiating the sort of aggressive savagery that you'd picture postapocalyptic mutants to have. The costumes and makeup for them look good, too, with some just looking poor and ragged while others look horrifically disfigured. It does a pretty good job of capturing the environment of an NYC subway, too. A mostly good House.

The good thing about my having attended the event for so many years is that it's let me pick up quite a few tips, tricks and guidelines on how to make the most of one's time there, which I decided to share with all of you:

The first guideline concerns advanced planning on when to go. Keep in mind that you will likely be there very late. Another thing to keep in mind is in terms of time. Horror Nights usually opens at about 6:00 or 6:30 each night. In planning/ scheduling the trip, plan around the fact that it'll generally take several minutes just to get through the parking gate/ toll area, about another 3- 5 minutes to get a parking space, and then approximately fifteen minutes to get from the parking lot through City Walk and finally to the park. Then, there's the matter of getting your tickets, which can slow things down more. So, essentially, if you want to be among the first to pour through the gates when the event opens, try if at all possible to get there about an hour or so early to help go through all that more easily.
Another important guideline I can think of involves how to avoid lines for the Haunted Houses; If you want to visit one of the high- demand Houses (i.e. 'Halloween'), it would be best to do so near the end of the night, as the lines generally ease down in the last hour or two of each night. At the start of the night, go for the Houses in the back of the park, near the 'Men in Black' ride (i.e. 'Bugs: Eaten Alive' and 'Descendants of Destruction').

In addition to guidelines on time efficiency and avoiding lines, there are also a few rules and guidelines that I've learned from my time at Halloween Horror Nights that can help first- timers keep from getting too scared when going through Houses (A major concern I've heard from many people thinking of attending):

1) In the Houses, stay in the center of the walkway at all times; DO NOT get too close to the walls or barriers on either side. Scareactors often lurk within the walls, in tucked- back alcoves or secret passage chambers called "Boo- Holes" before popping out at people, so to stray too close to a wall where one of those spots might be located would be, to the Scareactors, like thrusting a steak in front of a starving man.
2) Remain aware of your surroundings as much as possible. HHN's creative team LOVES using techniques like Distraction (Getting your attention fixed on a Scareactor or effect at one side of the room, then using a completely different Scareactor or effect to nail you from behind) and Camouflage (Having a Scareactor use a disguise that blends in with the walls or decorations, so they can suddenly pop out at you, such as going through a room full of statues, only one or two of those "Statues" are really Scareactors standing very still until you're right next to them) to take visitors by surprise. They can also change things up by having scares come at you at times from above, or even once or twice from below!
3) Keep your ears peeled. Many people underestimate the effectiveness of sound effects in scaring people. One of the main reasons why chainsaws are often used at Horror Nights in various ways (With the chains removed, so there's no safety hazard) is because there are very few sound effects scarier than the roar of a chainsaw. In addition, through hearing the screams of the people ahead of you in line, you can thus better determine where the Scareactors will pop out at you next.
4) Keep in mind that the Scareactors, frightening though they are, cannot actually touch you. They can jump out and wave their arms and yell "Booga- Booga" or whatnot, but if they actually physically touch you, they could be arrested. The opposite is true, too, you're not allowed to touch THEM, either. I recall a story I heard from 2008, when a drunk visitor to one of the Houses that year got a little too grabby with an attractive female Scareactor. As you can probably guess, park security was NOT happy about that, and the night didn't end well for the drunken creep in question as a result.
5) As a Christian, one technique I have used since my very first year attending Horror Nights is, when just about to enter a House (i.e. When the line I'm in has ten or so people left between me and the House's actual entrance), I recite to myself Psalm 23, paying special attention to "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." This helps me compose myself and gather my courage in preparation for what awaits me. It can likely do the same for any of you. It's an easy passage of Scripture to memorize, too.

In addition, though it's not connected to Houses, if you need to find a place free of Scareactors where you can go to kind of decompress and relax for a while, the best option is definitely the London/ Diagon Alley section of the park, aka the Harry Potter- themed area there. There's no Horror Nights- related stuff there (I'd picture J.K. Rowling being pretty angry if that section was used in such a way), and it has a lot of things to do, from the magnificent 'Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts' ride to a few eateries to a whole bunch of gift shops. Try the Butterbeer (An incredibly high- quality cream soda topped with a mind- bendingly delicious vanilla foam head), I'm fairly positive it will be on tap in Heaven!

An interesting thing is, many of these tips for going through Houses aren't just good for attending Halloween Horror Nights, they often contain elements of Scriptural wisdom, as well, that can help guide you year- round. For instance, the first hint I offered about staying in the center of the walkways at all times and not getting too close to the walls  and the second one about not being distracted but staying aware of your surroundings can both tie in to Proverbs 4:27: "Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil." This verse reminds believers that, just like when going through a Haunted House, we must stay on the one true path in the middle, fixed on the faith and destiny that God gives to us all, and not being lured aside or distracted.

Also, the tip about knowing that the Scareactors can't hurt you calls to mind Psalm 118:6, which says "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for guidance and protection, we can gain amazing courage. If we are saved through Christ and leaning on Him, the feeble attacks by men against us are as ultimately nonthreatening as Scareactors jumping out and giving a growl before letting us pass. What fellow humans can do to us is temporary; What the Lord Jesus Christ provides us with is eternal.

For one more example, the tip about reciting the 23rd Psalm not only helps drive home the Lord's role in protecting and providing for us as our Good Shepherd, it also calls to mind the importance of relying on God's Word, the Bible, in general. Psalm 119:05 says "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Also, in Psalm 1:2, it says of a righteous and wise person, "But his delight is in the Law for the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." Lastly, in John 15:7, Jesus says "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." It is through knowing, memorizing, and meditating on what God says through His servants in the Bible that we can always live in Him and achieve the glorious plan He has for us.

That about sums up my look at Halloween Horror Nights 2022, an awesome year for an unforgettable Halloween event which teaches equally awesome lessons on focusing on what's important, living in the courage God provides, and earnestly knowing His Word. It's so good, it's scary!

That's all from the Nightcrawler Experience for now. I'm working on my upcoming Christmas entries, and some others as well. Until then, happy Halloween, stay safe, and may God bless you all!

Mercy, Misplaced Theology, and Childlike Faith: A Faith- Based Look at 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!'

 Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!

This is the first in a hopefully two- part Halloween- related series for this blog this year, and is again done in partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church, this time for a family event tying in to their wonderful Pumpkin Patch fundraiser. Tonight, we will be looking at the well- loved old Halloween TV special, 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!'

(Credit for this image goes to the user Baldwin17 on the Halloween Specials Wiki at https://halloween.fandom.com/wiki/It%27s_the_Great_Pumpkin,_Charlie_Brown?file=It%2527s_the_Great_Pumpkin.png)

Obviously based on the classic Charles Schulz comic strip "Peanuts" with Charlie Brown and his friends, this 1966 special has the whole gang each preparing for Halloween in their own ways.

Good old Charlie Brown and his friends are anticipating trick or treating and a big Halloween party. His younger sister Sally is excited as this will apparently be her first year being able to go trick or treating.
Their dog Snoopy, who dresses up as a World War 1 flying ace for the occasion, becomes quite convinced he actually IS one and must stop the "Red Baron" and escape from behind enemy lines (Strange, I know).

 Last but most prominently, Charlie Brown's best friend Linus camps out in a local pumpkin patch to await the expected arrival of "The Great Pumpkin," a figure who apparently comes out of a "Sincere" pumpkin patch every Halloween and brings presents to all children who believe in him. He eventually convinces Sally, who of course has always had a crush on him, to join him in this.

Nobody's night goes well. Charlie Brown for some unexplained reason gets rocks from every house he trick or treats at, and is humiliated at the party. Linus and Sally don't fare any better as the Great Pumpkin never comes, and Sally angrily yells at Linus for this.
Nevertheless, the next day, Linus's faith remains unshaken, as he vows he'll keep trying each Halloween until he sees the Great Pumpkin.

Now, it's time for a little honesty: I've always considered 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' to be rather overrated. Even as a kid, I found it REALLY depressing, as so many characters' Halloweens are completely ruined; Charlie Brown gets nothing but rocks from everyone while trick- or- treating (Seriously, why does everyone hate Charlie Brown so much? Did he poison the town's water supply or something? Also, how could the people at the houses even tell it was him, considering that his ghost costume covered him all over, including covering his face?) and the party was a disaster for him, and Linus and Sally both waste their Halloweens waiting for the Great Pumpkin who never comes. Consider, in contrast, the Charlie Brown Christmas special: That, too, had Charlie Brown going through a lot of unpleasant things, but at least it all came together well in the end and his efforts were rewarded. In this, though, there's no such happy payoff.

Nevertheless, it does have some funny and charming moments, and while I'm not a huge fan of it, I can see why others are. The voice acting from the kids is good, and it establishes a nice Halloween- esque atmosphere. It nostalgia value is through the roof, too.

I was able to find a few good Scriptural lessons to be taken from 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.'
The first, in the devotional distributed at the screening, used 2 Timothy 3:16 and Romans 1:20 to help show that, unlike Linus's misplaced faith in the Great Pumpkin, we as Christians can rest assured that our faith in Jesus Christ is well- founded, well- proven and 100% true.

Once again, though, I'd say there's more to be found.

Another theological lesson I've found in it is on the surprising kindness and mercy that people can be capable of. An obviously quite prominent character in 'Peanuts' stories is Lucy Van Pelt, who is Linus's sister and Charlie Brown's most frequent tormentor. Needless to say, she is NOT a nice person, terrorizing Charlie Brown every chance she can get and regularly mocking Linus for his faith in the Great Pumpkin. Nevertheless, even someone as nasty as her can be capable of kindness and mercy, as shown in two ways: While out trick or treating, Lucy makes a point of requesting extra candy that she can give to Linus, and at the end of the night, while Linus is miserably sleeping in the pumpkin patch with the weather increasingly colder, Lucy gets up, leaves the house, gets her brother, and lovingly brings him home and puts him to bed. I wouldn't have thought she had it in her! Such kindness is especially powerful because she was pretty angry at Linus at the time, due to his devotion to the Great Pumpkin making her as his sister look bad.
This is very much a Scriptural concept. Ephesians 4:32 instructs believers to "Be kind and compassionate to each other, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you!' If even someone as normally unpleasant as Lucy can show such compassion and forgiveness, then why can't we? God forgave us and showed mercy to us through sending Jesus to die for us, the least we can do is forgive and show mercy to each other for the much smaller in comparison wrongs we may commit against each other.


I think a final lesson to be taken from 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' is on developing a childlike innocence and faith. However, this concerns not the special itself, but rather a quite heartwarming story I've heard relating to the fans' reactions to it. It appears I'm not the only one who was saddened by the unfairness of Charlie Brown getting nothing but rocks for Halloween; Charles Schulz once said that, in the weeks following the special's premiere, he received a ton of fan- mail packages from children all over the country which included bags full of candy and instructions to give all of it to Charlie Brown! This great story reminds me of what was said about Jesus in Matthew 18:2-4: " 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." I'd say that story about how the children reacted to this special gives a good example of some of what it means to be like a child in the way Jesus described. Simple kindness, innocence, a humble faith, and a desire to set things right and help those we believe have been wronged.

Before this entry ends, I have one more funny addition to make relating to 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,' if any of you are interested in it: One of my current favorite Youtube channels is known as Shanieology, and the best feature of it is when he does what are known as "Skeletor Reaction" videos, in which he appears in costume and in character as He- Man's archenemy Skeletor and reacts to various videos and shows (Sometimes He- Man- related, other times not) in this way. They are always very funny to watch, and he has done many of these reaction videos in which he reacts to the assorted 'Peanuts'- related TV specials. He did a reaction video to 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' last year that makes for a genuinely hilarious analysis of it. Check it out:

(Credit for this goes to Shanieology at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3cbOKL55zU)

That about sums up my look at 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown': While it might not be my favorite Halloween special, I can understand its appeal, and can certainly admire the great lessons it teaches us about having solid theology, mercy towards others, and a childlike innocence and faith.

With that, I bring this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience to a close. Keep an eye out for my next Halloween- related entry, I should have that up soon. Until then, take care, and may God bless you all!

Not Fleeing from Life, and True Confidence Through Faith; a Faith- Based Look at 'Sing 2.'

 Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!

Better late than never (I know the screening was a few weeks ago, but between being on vacation, and taking a very demanding new job, this is the first time I've had enough time to get it submitted), this is the concluding entry in my blog's annual partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for this year's Summer at the Movies series, and we'll be finishing on a very strong note by looking at last year's 'Sing 2'!

For those unfamiliar with the 'Sing' series, it is a "Jukebox musical" series set in a world of anthropomorphic animals similar to the Disney film 'Zootopia' (In fact, I actually think it handles that particular concept better than 'Zootopia,' as it includes animal groups not featured in that movie, such as primates, birds and reptiles). The first one centers around Buster Moon, a koala who holds a singing competition in the hopes of saving an old theater he was deeply attached to, and in the process gains a quite diverse group of gifted aspiring singers: Porcupine rocker Ash, British gorilla Johnny (My favorite of them), pig homemaker Rosita and her flamboyant dance partner Gunter, and the shy but incredibly talented elephant Meena.

In this one, having saved and restored the theater in the first film, Buster has now turned it into a nice enough performance venue using some of the performers from the first movie. However, a play they put on fails to impress a major talent scout who tells him they'd never make it in the major metropolis of Redshore City.
Determined to prove her wrong on this, Buster gets the singers back together and they travel to the city to pitch their latest show idea to big- time entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal, a wolf who has a lot of influence on the city's entertainment scene and the money to make their show a success.

To further appeal to him, they lead him to believe they can get legendary rocker Clay Calloway (Voice of musical legend Bono) to perform for the show. However, when they attempt to recruit Calloway, they learn the aging lion is embittered with fame and music in general after his wife's passing and has no interest in performing again.
Buster and Ash (A lifelong fan of Calloway's) set out to try and convince him to appear in the performance, especially as Jimmy has openly said he'll straight- up KILL Buster if the production is not a success, but that's far from the only problem the production faces. Rosita's fear of heights hinders her from performing a key stunt in the play, Jimmy insists that his daughter Porsha be given a part in the musical, Meena is cast in a romantic role but can't get into character because she's never been in love before, and Johnny struggles to learn choreography for his number even though he's never been good at dancing.

It all comes down to the night of the big performance, and seeing if everything can come together to create a show that will never be forgotten.

'Sing 2' probably could have used a better main antagonist. Jimmy was a pretty straightforward "Rich jerk who's a proxy for Donald Trump" villain. He could have used a little depth, maybe a reason why he was so opposed to the idea of anything that might potentially embarrass him (i.e. Maybe a childhood memory in which he was traumatically humiliated by someone).

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Sing 2,' perhaps even more than I liked the first film in the series. It had loads of humor, a bit of heart, and some pretty awesome musical numbers!

It continued the nice trend of having a little subplot for each of the major characters, and brought in a few new ones that were mostly handled pretty well.
As I said earlier, my favorite character in the 'Sing' series is Johnny the gorilla, both because gorillas are among my favorite animals on Earth and because he is simply a very sympathetic and relatable character in each of the movies. His subplot involves him initially being set up with a professional high- end choreographer, a proboscis monkey called Klaus Kickenklober (Gotta love that name), to learn his dance moves for the show, but the merciless jerk insists Johnny will never get it and never be great. Undaunted, he turns to a charming street- dancing lynx named Nooshy who helps him truly get in touch with his inner dancer. It makes for a very satisfying subplot to the movie, especially when it comes to fruition with a couple final twists in the performance.

One new character who I ended up liking a LOT more than I thought I would was Jimmy Crystal's daughter, Porsha (Voice of pop singer Halsey). In her first couple scenes, she's just a stereotypical spoiled, demanding ditz. However, around the second half of the movie, you start to like Porsha a LOT more, as it's clear that she does have her talents (Though acting is not one of them), and can put them to amazing use in the performance. Seeing her shake off the shackles of her father and become her own person is wonderful to see.

Clay Calloway is a great character, too. You can feel the inner torment he's in of wanting to rejoin the world again, but being trapped by the grief he still feels over his wife Ruby. Bono injects a good deal of emotion into Clay's voice in every scene. A really nice visual occurs with Clay near the film's climax. Clay is still determined to not do the show, but then hears Ash downstairs on his porch playing one of his songs. As he begins walking towards her, we see pictures of his late wife Ruby on the wall, including one presumably near the end of her life, which shows her in a wheelchair. Then, at the bottom of the stairs, he must pass by an open closet with Ruby's wheelchair stored inside it. I felt like that symbolized Clay literally and figuratively moving past his grief and obtaining a new lease on life.

The songs in 'Sing 2' are all amazing. Starting with a fun performance of "Let's Get Crazy" in the beginning of the movie, and continuing especially into the climax with the actual show being performed, with highlights being Johnny's performance of "Sky Full of Stars" during his big combat/ dance number, Porsha's rendition of "It Could Have Been Me," and Clay performing the U2 classic "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It'll be VERY tough to resist singing along to these stellar musical numbers!

There are a couple good faith- based messages to be taken from 'Sing 2.'

The first, from the devotional that I had passed out at the screening, was on not running from our problems and responsibilities. Near the film's climax, Buster has incurred the wrath of Jimmy, who will be sending hit men after him any minute, and is preparing to quietly flee town. At that moment, Clay (Who by this point has been convinced to join the show) comes along and, seeing what Buster is planning to do, points out to him that "Runnin' and hidin' away ain't all it's cracked up to be." I pointed out that this was similar to what Jonah went through in the first chapter of the book of the Bible named after him. He was told by God to go to Nineveh and convince them to repent and turn to the Lord, but he didn't want to do this, and so he tried fleeing from this responsibility. He tried hitching a boat ride to Tarshish, but God wouldn't let this happen. He first sent a storm to stop the voyage, then sent a great fish to swallow Jonah for three days. This led to Jonah repenting and agreeing to do what God told him to do. Just like Buster eventually did in the movie, Jonah realized he couldn't run from his responsibilities. Similarly, we can't run from our responsibilities and trials in life, even if they seem scary. We need to confront them with the courage of knowing that God is always looking out for us and wants what's best for us.

Another Scriptural lesson to be taken from 'Sing 2' is on confidence through faith, using Johnny's struggle to learn dancing as an example. Nooshy's dance lessons help Johnny a lot, but what really enables Johnny to excel at dancing is her helping him to slowly yet surely regain his inner confidence that Klaus had destroyed during his brutal early lessons. As she puts it, "Just forget what Klaus told you, and go with the flow!" She helps Johnny learn a little bit at a time, restore his faith in himself, and before long, he can flawlessly perform the routine! Even on the big night, when Klaus attempts to disrupt his big routine and shake him emotionally, Johnny is able to stand up to him and give a magnificent performance. This calls to mind Psalm 16:8-9, which says "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; My flesh also dwells secure." Keeping the Lord before us, as the first thing in our minds and on our hearts, can give us enough confidence that we can endure anything that the world may throw at us, be it naysaying bullies like Klaus in the movie, or our inner feelings of guilt, failure or inadequacy. Sometimes it can be hard (Believe me, considering my new job, that's something I've been experiencing firsthand a lot), but it is always worth it in the end. Trusting in Him can enable us to have the courage to move mountains and do incredible things for His Kingdom.

That's about all there is to say about 'Sing 2,' a nice fun sequel with brilliant songs and even more brilliant messages about how we need to face our responsibilities head- on, and how trusting in Jesus can give us the courage and confidence to do incredible things in life. I'd say those lessons are really something to sing about!

That's it for this year's Summer at the Movies series, and for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Keep your eyes open for some future entries I have in mind for the coming weeks and months, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!

Selfless Friendship, the Price of Fame, and Seeking Deep Connections: A Faith- Based Look at 'Ron's Gone Wrong.'

 Hello, dear readers, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
This is the fourth entry in my blog's annual partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for their Summer at the Movies series. For this entry, we will be looking at the 2021 animated film 'Ron's Gone Wrong.'

(Credit for this image goes to the user Bszabo15 on the Disney wiki at https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Ron%27s_Gone_Wrong?file=Ron%2527s_Gone_Wrong_official_poster.jpg)

In this movie, tech corporation Bubble Tech has unveiled its masterpiece: "The B- Bot," a small cylindrical robot buddy that can interact with its owners in an amazing variety of ways, and help them connect with and befriend other humans by syncing together with THEIR B-Bots to see what they have in common. It almost instantly proves a smash hit, as practically everyone gets a B- Bot in a short period and relies on them for just about everything.
Everyone, that is, except a middle- school boy named Barney Pudowski (Voice of Jack Dylan Grazer, who played young Eddie Kaspbrak in the recent 'It' movies). He has no friends whatsoever (In fact, a former friend of his named Rich now routinely bullies and humiliates him for a prank- centered Youtube channel), an odd family consisting of his widowed father who struggles to get his novelty- item business off the ground and an eccentric Bulgarian grandma and a number of farm animals, and they cannot afford a B- Bot for him, which further isolates him from his peers as literally everyone else at his school has one.
Miraculously, on Barney's birthday, his father manages to acquire a B- Bot that was discarded as it fell out of the delivery truck and was damaged.

Barney's initial joy at this is greatly hindered, though, as the damage this B- Bot (Voice of Zach Galifianakis) suffered caused it to be severely defective in a number of ways. It constantly glitches, and makes multiple mistakes, including the fact that its disabled safety functions cause it to fight back against an annoying bully AND a cop! Nevertheless, Barney grows to like the weird little fellow, names him "Ron," and sets out to teach Ron how to be his best friend.
However, Ron's glitchy behavior soon attracts the attention of the Bubble Tech higher- ups, including a scheming COO who bears a MAJOR resemblance to Steve Jobs, feel like it could harm the company's publicity and set out to find and destroy Ron. Barney runs away into the woods with Ron to try and avoid this, many other major developments occur, and everyone learns a lesson on what true friendship can look like.

One of the only problems I have with 'Ron's Gone Wrong' is with the bully Rich, as while he redeems himself by the end of the movie, it feels a little rushed. There are no real moments of him feeling remorse for his awful past actions, apologizing to Barney and the others he's wronged, or anything like that. I mean, it's always great to see in a movie when a jerk manages to come around, but they need to show what led to him doing this and him acknowledging that his past actions were wrong.

In spite of this, 'Ron's Gone Wrong' is a real underrated animated gem. I think it really deserves to get more attention than it ended up getting.

The humor is pretty constant in it, most of the characters are believable and likable, and there are some real moments of poignance scattered through it. The friendship that Barney eventually develops with Ron really is quite nice to see.

It also has some good social commentary relating to social media, and how, while it can be used for good and help people to better connect with each other, it also can cause them to isolate themselves from each other a lot (i.e. We learn that Barney used to have a nice group of friends, but them getting B- Bots caused all of them to distance themselves from him as this new gizmo caused them to be more concerned with things like online gaming and internet fame than in- person friendship). I know that this seems like a similar message to the one for the movie I looked at in the previous entry on this blog, 'The Mitchells vs. the Machines,' but there's a big difference: 'Mitchells' focused on our society's addiction to technology in general with social media being only a small part of that, whereas 'Ron's Gone Wrong' seems to specifically focus on social media's effect on our society.

Now, for the character run- down. Barney is quite well- developed as a main character. He's easy to relate to with his loneliness, his initial struggles with being picked on and with how much he and the rest of his family clearly miss his late mother, and desperately wanting to make friends. He can at times be selfish and struggle to put others first, but he grows a lot and eventually does learn that, ad becomes a better and more sociable kid in the process.

Barney's father Graham is shown to be quite a kind, loving man who does all he can to help his family. There are times when he doesn't have quite enough time to be there for his son due to his work and trying to find buyers/ investors for his novelty items, but considering that he seems to be pretty much the sole family breadwinner and the only thing keeping a roof over his family's heads, that's forgivable.

Barney's grandma Donka is, quite frankly, AWESOME! She is so funny and crazy (Both in a typical "Kooky grandma" way, and in the quirks she has as a Bulgarian immigrant and ardent anti- Communist), yet it's clear that she immensely loves her son and grandson. She spends all day cooking and baking for Barney's birthday party, even though no one comes, and uses her own "Funeral money" to help buy Ron simply because she knows it will make her grandson happy and help him to make friends. Definitely one of the best fictional grandparents I can recall seeing in a movie.

Ron's assorted acquaintances/ former friends are all a pretty interesting group, each with their own quirks and hangups. Mostly seem like a nice group other than Rich, and even he gets better by the end.
The company's well- meaning CEO, Marc Wydell, is pretty likable, too. While he wants his company to succeed, he's humble and good natured (Unlike the Steve Jobs- esque CEO), and is fascinated at what Ron can do, and how it could potentially help everyone.

However, the most prominent and memorable character in 'Ron's Gone Wrong' is definitely Ron himself. He is insanely funny in pretty much every scene he is in due to his glitchy nature, and also has a few moments of real poignance. In spite of his glitches, he is a fast learner of human behavior, and quickly learns to be a supportive and loyal friend to Barney. In fact, when I did my "Top 10 Favorite Movie Characters of 2021" list, Ron made an Honorable Mention on it. Just a delightful character all the way!

In general, 'Ron's Gone Wrong' is a nice film for the whole family to enjoy. It'll make them laugh, make them think, and maybe even make them cry.

There are a few Scriptural messages that I think can be taken from 'Ron's Gone Wrong.' The first, which I put on the devotional that was passed out at the screening, was on how true friends need to be selfless with each other, esteeming each other more than themselves, as Romans 12:10 says.

Another important message is on the fleeting and honestly undesirable nature of fame. A character in 'Ron's Gone Wrong' who demonstrates the downside of seeking and achieving fame is Barney's classmate, Savannah. She starts out as an aspiring vlogger who records and posts online pretty much everything in her life. However, an incident involving a bunch of malfunctioning B-Bots leads to her being horrifically humiliated on video that soon streams and trends worldwide, and causing Savannah to be branded with a grotesque new nickname that I won't mention here. She gains the sort of global fame and attention that she had always sought, but for all the wrong reasons and in a VERY negative way that makes her life miserable. Even in this sense, though, she learns her lesson and becomes a wiser person for it. In the very end of the movie, when Rich asks to be allowed to livestream the amazing details of everything Barney did in the movie, Savannah interjects, "Take it from me, Rich: Fame is overrated."
Savannah's observation is very much a Biblical concept. Proverbs 25:27 observes that "It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory." Seeking to constantly elevate yourself is not a pleasant way to live, any fame which may come from it usually doesn't last long, and often does not end well, as Savannah learns the hard way. We should instead strive to humble ourselves, and seek out the Lord God, the One who is truly worthy of fame and admiration.

Another Scriptural lesson to be taken from 'Ron's Gone Wrong' concerns the need for people to be united together, not isolated. Early in the movie, before Barney's family acquires Ron, there is a brief but telling exchange when Barney's dad asks, "You need a B- Bot to have a social life?" Barney responds, "Yeah, Dad, kind of." Sadly, far too many people hold to views similar to this with their phones and computers. There is also an important scene near the end when Barney sees through recorded B- Bot footage of Savannah, Rich, and his other former friends that while they each seem happy and fulfilled outwardly in their own ways, in reality each of them is incredibly lonely, insecure, and desperate for real companionship and affirmation. This proves to be a real epiphany for Barney, and so he finds a way to arrange for all of them and himself to sort of rediscover each other and become again the close- knit, supportive group of friends that they used to be. As Psalms 133:1 puts it, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" Ron and his group eventually discover this firsthand, and so too can all of us if we reach out to each other for direct connections. Over- reliance on social media is causing us to not develop as many lasting friendships with in- person people. We all need that kind of in- person connection with others.

In summary, 'Ron's Gone Wrong' is a wonderful little film that helps us see what true friendship can look like, the price of seeking temporary fame, and the importance of reaching out personally with fellow children of God whenever possible. There's nothing glitchy about any of those!

That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back next week for the concluding entry in the series (I initially thought there were only four films in the series, but there are actually five; WHOOPS!). Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!

Flawed People Becoming Heroes, Avoiding Idol Worship, and Not Being Corrupted By the World: A Faith- Based Look at 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines.'

 Hello again, readers, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
For this, the third entry in this blog's annual partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for their Summer at the Movies series, we had to do a VERY last- minute change; Initially, we were planning to look at the live- action musical 'In the Heights'; However, some people upon watching the movie in advance began to develop concerns that it may not be appropriate for screening in a church setting (Having never seen it myself, I cannot comment, though its PG- 13 rating did raise a red flag for me in that regard), so we decided to select an alternative movie instead; The 2021 animated film 'The Mitchells Vs. The Machines'!

(Credit for this image goes to the user Omoniyi.ade0614 on the Sony Pictures Animation wiki at https://sonypicturesanimation.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mitchells_vs._the_Machines?file=The_Mitchells_vs._The_Machines_poster.jpg)

The movie centers around teenage Katie Mitchell and her family; Father Rick, mother Linda, dinosaur- loving younger brother Aaron, and borderline- brainless dog Monchi. They are all eccentric and quirky in their own ways, but clearly love each other deep down. However, Katie and Rick are becoming estranged from each other. Katie is an aspiring filmmaker who makes goofy Youtube videos to try and basically hone her skills, while her father is more of an outdoorsman and handyman, and neither of the two of them is particularly interested in the other’s pursuits. Linda and Aaron each try to keep things calm and happy as best they can, but without much results.
When Katie is accepted to film school in California, she looks forward to being able to get out on her own and get better at doing what she loves, but her father is more hesitant. The night before Katie is to leave for film school, the two have an argument that causes some serious regrets on both sides. Rick, fearing that this friction may cause him to lose his daughter forever, tries to atone for this the next day by telling Katie last- minute that they have cancelled her plane ticket to California and will instead be driving her there cross- country as a family to get in some more bonding time with her. Katie hates this decision, because she’d rather spend as much time as possible in California getting to know her new classmates, but she is forced to go along with it. The trip quickly proves to be a mixed bag with annoyances and hangups but also the occasional amusing moments.

Things take a, well, interesting and unexpected turn before too long. Tech CEO Mark Bowman unveils his company’s newest creation, PAL- Max, which is basically a cross between a smart phone and a robot butler. This prompts the company’s now- obsolete former AI, ‘PAL,’ to go rogue, hijack control of all the company’s machines and declare war on humanity (Don’t you just hate when that happens?), sending its swarms of PAL- Max robots to capture all humans on Earth and eventually shoot them all into space and create a new robot- populated world. The Mitchells manage to escape this, and learn that there is a special kill- code that can shut the robots down for good and thus save humanity. They opt to drive on a dangerous mission to do this, and in the process learn a lot more about each other and themselves.



An issue I have with ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ is with some of its animation style. Specifically, it frequently uses what the animators refer to as "Katie- Vision," with intentionally crude- looking 2-D hand- drawings and photos appearing over the screen and the 3-D animated characters and environments at times, I guess to kind of accentuate whatever Katie's thinking at the time (If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about). I've seen other movies and shows do similar things at times, and to be honest, I’ve never really liked it very much. It's alright in small doses, but when used too heavily, it feels like an annoying distraction, and most of the time in this movie, that's exactly how it feels like. 

Also, I thought the main villain 'PAL' wasn't as effective as she could have been. I feel like the writers could have made her a little more sympathetic (i.e. Emphasizing the pain she clearly felt when Bowman, whom she saw as her best friend, callously rejected her in favor of these new robots), and having her spend nearly all of the movie housed within a little smart phone lessened how menacing she could have potentially been. maybe they could have had her spend some of the movie transferring her AI into a giant supercomputer monitor that would make her pixelated face look gigantic, or possibly into some of the other, more mobile devices that the company makes.


Other than that, 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines' was a hilarious and often heart- warming film that gets progressively better as it goes on.
It has LOADS of humor, and in a variety of forms. There's some slapstick, some funny word- play, social and pop- cultural satire (Including some that's really subtle, such as a Best Buy- esque electronics store chain called "Good- Get"), and lots of others. There were VERY few scenes in the movie that didn't get me laughing at least once.

There's also a good amount of emotional poignance to the movie. It becomes clear early on that the Mitchells really do love each other in spite of their flaws and their arguments. They just at times have trouble with really connecting with each other (A common problem among families), and even that they greatly lessen as a result of their adventure over the course of the movie.

Speaking of which, one thing I like about this movie is that, while there is conflict between Katie and her father Rick, it’s NOT a “One side is 100% right, the other is 100% wrong” type of deal, as it likely would be in a more lazily- written movie; They both have valid points, both have flaws, both need to overcome their own stubbornness and learn to listen to each other more, and both gain a lot more respect for each other over the course of their adventure.

The movie has some solid action scenes, too, including multiple car- chase scenes with the Mitchells trying to evade the rampaging robots. There is also an incredibly clever scene about hallway into the movie when the Mitchells go into a shopping mall to activate the kill- code, only to be assaulted by a wide variety of household appliances with PAL- tech chips in them that have come alive. How this is pulled off is really funny and fitting, such as dive- bombing drone toys, vending machines blasting soda cans at deadly velocities, and even killer Furbys (They manage the near- impossible task of being even scarier than real- life Furbys)! Basically, picture what would happen if some of your own household appliances were to come alive and try to kill you, how they'd go about it, and that's pretty much exactly how they portray it in this great scene.

The film does a great job satirizing how addicted to electronics, social media and the Internet the human race has become in recent years.
While movies that warn about the dangers of allowing science and technology to evolve faster than humans could control them are nothing new (i.e. '2001: A Space Odyssey,' 'The Terminator,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Avengers: Age of Ultron,' etc.), this movie injects some novelty into it by taking this satirical approach and highlighting how addicted to gizmos and screens most humans are and how lost they could feel if those devices went away, or worse, became sentient enough to turn against them. For instance, one of the first things that ‘PAL’ does in her war on the human race is briefly shut off all wi-fi worldwide, which immediately causes global rioting and insanity.
We also see it through the often- unhealthy effect it has on most of the Mitchells. While Rick is a man who could stand to get with the times a little more, he actually does have a valid point that Katie and the others in the family are all becoming too addicted to smart phones and screens. Before the robot apocalypse begins, we see Katie and Aaron keeping their eyes glued to their phones at least 80% of the time, shielding them from at times actually SEEING the world around them with their own eyes, and Linda's constant scrolling of social media causing her to unfavorably compare her own family to their annoyingly perfect- in- every- way neighbors, the Poseys.
In other words, 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines' showcases nearly all the different ways that relying too much on technology, especially phones and computers, can be bad for people, and this is without even having the evil robots kidnapping people enter the equation yet!

Now, on to the character run- down. Katie is an interesting main protagonist, quirky and hyper yet struggling with inner feelings of insecurity and desperate to get better at what she loves and start living her own life. She's not perfect, she panics and loses her temper at times, yet her resourcefulness and tech- knowledge greatly help her and her family to save the day.

The father Rick is a character who, in the hands of lazier writers, could have been disastrous and predictable. Often in modern media, especially aimed at kids, "Dad" characters are portrayed as either dumb, useless oafs to be laughed at or unsympathetic stifling jerks to be hated. Rick could have easily become either of those stereotypes, yet the writers avoided that with him. While Rick doesn't always make the right choices on things, and clashes with Katie at times concerning her plans to go to film school, we see that he has plenty of uses, as well, and he just was afraid of Katie failing and feeling the sort of loss in that respect that he has felt over things. Rick’s survivalist skills often really come in handy against the machines, especially during the previously- mentioned scene in the mall. We also eventually learn that he sacrificed a LOT for the sake of his family, putting his personal life dreams aside to help his children have a better life. Around two- thirds of the way into the movie, we see a family home- movie involving him which had me at the brink of tears as it explained so much and did it so well. It honestly caused me to gain even more respect for my own father; We don’t see eye- to- eye on everything, but he too is a good, decent, Godly man who has given up a lot for his family, and I’m glad to still have a pretty solid relationship with him.

Linda is largely just a typical "Mom" character, supportive and helpful, a bit of a worrier, and not afraid to speak the truth in love. A scene in the climax in which we see her reaction to her family being in mortal danger had me laughing and cheering so hard!

The younger brother Aaron is okay. He can't get enough of dinosaurs, is nervous around girls, and a wonderful trait about him is we quickly see how much he loves his sister and that he sees her as his best friend, and thus he is very torn about the thought of her going away to film school. He supports her in it, but is clearly sad at the thought of not having her around anymore. That felt authentic.

The dog Monchi provides for some good laughs even as you wonder if it has a single functional brain cell in its head. A pair of malfunctioning robots who end up becoming allies to the Mitchells provide some good comic relief, as well.

The animation mostly looks pretty good when it isn't overly relying on that "Katie- Vision" I mentioned earlier. Everything's pretty detailed and there's clear effort to it.

In general, 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines' is another great film for the family to watch together, laugh at together, and talk about after, both concerning their reliance on tech and screens and concerning each other.

Now, to run down some Scriptural lessons that can be taken from 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines.' The first, from the devotional I made that was passed out prior to the screening, is relating to God using flawed people to do His will. We see the Mitchells, strange and flawed though they all are, managing to stop 'PAL''s evil plan and save the world. This ties into how God often uses flawed, imperfect people in the Bible such as Abraham, David, and Peter to do His will and build His Kingdom on Earth, and how He can similarly use us in spite of all our imperfections to do great things if we trust in Him.

Another faith- based message found in the movie relates to the movie's critique of humanity's current addictions to technology and social media. This can apply to our walk with God in a couple ways. The first is through considering the first of the Ten Commandments, seen in Exodus 20:3: "You shall have no other gods before Me." The fact is, for many in our modern world, our phones and laptops have become like idols, false gods, to us. They are the things that many people center their entire existences around. It's particularly shown in the movie through the scene I mentioned, in which 'PAL' at one point temporarily shuts off the world's wi-fi, and there's widespread madness and anarchy worldwide as a result. If such a thing were to happen in real life, I honestly don't think the results would be much different. It's what happens when a society worships something else rather than God. If we looked at and followed our Bibles half as often as we looked at our phones, this world could become a much better, holier place.
The next point is through considering that we are not to be too enslaved to the world and its ways. Humanity's present addictions to technology and social media are, I'd say, the perfect picture of what enslavement to the world looks like. Much of it is centered around people showing off their bodies, their outer beauty, and their possessions in order to gain the approval and admiration of other people, without any regard for the Lord. All of those things (Outer appearance, possessions, worldly approval) are temporary and fleeting, while what the Lord offers lasts for eternity. The Bible is filled with warnings for believers to not get so swept up in worldly things that they neglect their walk with God. 1 John 2:15-17 says "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." Also, one of my favorite Bible verses, Romans 12:2, says "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind." While enjoying technology and social media are okay, and can at times be used for Godly purposes (i.e. What I do with this blog), we must not conform to the worldly pattern of shallow screen addiction at the expense of spending time with the Lord God, who can renew our minds and help us live our lives to the fullest. We as Christians must rise above living how the rest of the world lives, and instead live how the Lord calls us to live, as He knows what's truly best for us and wants us to live our best lives.
I will soon be going on a vacation to my family's vacation home in Canada (My first time being there in three years), and one of the biggest lures up there is the wonderful scenic beauty and the chance to truly experience God's creation. There is some tech- stuff there, but I'll be spending most of the time hiking, kayaking, rock- climbing, enjoying the company of loved ones, and communing with the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, there we have 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines,' a very nice family movie that teaches even nicer messages on how even the most flawed of us can do great things, how we shouldn't let our technology or our social media accounts become our gods, and how we should rise above the fleeting ways of this world and seek the happiness and fulfillment that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ. I'd say all of those are definitely worth a "Like"!

That's it for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back in a week when I look at the next movie in this series. Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!

Turning Trash Into Treasure, and Valuing Righteousness Over Popularity: A Faith- Based Look at 'The Bad Guys.'

 Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!

It's now week 2 of this blog's partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for their Summer at the Movies series, and for this one, we will be looking at the recent animated film 'The Bad Guys.'

(Credit for this image goes to the user "Jonathan favela" on the Dreamworks wiki at https://dreamworks.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bad_Guys?file=The_Bad_Guys_Poster.jpg)

This movie, based on the Scholastic kid's book series of the same name, which features humans and anthropomorphic animals together, involves Mr. Wolf (Voice of Sam Rockwell), Mr. Shark (Voice of Craig Robinson), Mr. Snake (Voice of Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (Voice of Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Voice of Awkwafina). The five of them are a gang known as "The Bad Guys" that pulls off elaborate, 'Ocean's Eleven'- esque heists and robberies.

Early in the film, an attempted heist by them goes wrong and they get caught. Mr. Wolf gets the idea to keep himself and his friends out of prison by convincing Governor Foxington that the Bad Guys can change their ways and become good. Dearly- loved local philanthropist Rupert Marmalade IV takes it upon himself to lead this effort, while the Bad Guys see it as a "Kind- cation" leading up to them attempting to steal the priceless statue that was the goal of the initial heist.
They take classes from Rupert on rudimentary forms of goodness such as sharing desserts, helping old ladies across the street, and getting cats out of trees. These efforts don't go well. However, Wolf eventually starts to get the hang of it, and even grows to like doing nice things. This catches a lot of positive attention on social media, and they are invited to a big gala to basically celebrate their supposed reform. Things take all kinds of unexpected twists, and we get an interesting take on if "Bad guys" can truly become good.


I really enjoyed 'The Bad Guys.' It has goofy fun for kids and lots of laughs, but at the same time also has some clever and sophisticated elements to it. It is an obvious send- up of "Heist" movies such as the 'Ocean's Eleven' films, and also even has some Quentin Tarantino- esque moments (i.e. The film's opening in which Wolf and Snake have a brief conversation at a diner is an obvious nod to the opening of 'Pulp Fiction'). It's funny in a lot of ways, from slapstick humor to word- play humor to funny one- liners and more.

The animation style for this movie looks fascinating. It is kind of a blend of two- dimensional and three- dimensional animation, similar to what was used in 'Spider- Man: Into the Spider- Verse,' and it makes everything seem so much cooler!

The movie's slow- jazz music score fits perfectly, too. Such a musical score is practically a mainstay for "Heist" movies, and is used very well here.

Now, for the character run- down:
All five of the Bad Guys proved to be quite likable characters, and they make for quite a nice circle of friends to each other (Thus helping to subtly establish that they do indeed have some good in them even at the start). Mr. Wolf functions very well as the main character and is the most developed of them, and Sam Rockwell was truly the perfect choice for his voice. He at times has a suave, George Clooney- esque charm to him, other times is manic and hyper.

 Mr. Snake is grumpy and irascible, yet understandably so, the fact that his main skill for the group is acting as their safecracker is hilarious since he doesn't have any hands, and they also get some laughs out of the fact that he appears to be able to swallow practically anything.
Mr. Shark's knack for being a master of disguise is hilarious, seeing this large great white shark somehow convince people that he is a construction worker, a woman about to give birth, or their own father. 

Ms. Tarantula isn't used as much as she probably could have been, but she still has a lot of clever lines and fun moments. She is the designated hacker of the team, and the sight of her eight legs rapidly tapping various keyboards and buttons is adorable to watch!

Mr. Piranha is, for lack of a better word, insane! He has loads of energy, a short fuse (Not to mention a bit of a problem with gas), and is always eager for a fight. The toughness and scrappiness that such a little guy can possess is always an amusing sight.

Speaking of amusement, the short- fused police chief got a lot of laughs from me, with her constant attempts to try and capture the Bad Guys and her funny, exaggerated facial expressions. Big props to Alex Borstein for her work as the chief's voice.

Governor Foxington made for a great supporting character, too. Supportive of the Bad Guys' efforts to reform, but trying to balance that with her obligation to protect the public. She also (As my theological points about the movie demonstrate) is a great source of wise advice for Mr. Wolf, and proves to be a lot more than meets the eye by the end of the film. 

All in all, 'The Bad Guys' makes for a delightful family movie that everyone could get a little something out of.

On the devotional I wrote that was passed out at the screening, I noted that one major theological message of 'The Bad Guys' was on how God can take even damaged people and bad periods of our lives and turn them into something really meaningful and worthwhile for His Kingdom, using Joseph's words to his brothers in Genesis 50:20. It's seen in the movie early on when Mr. Wolf and Governor Foxington are examining a modern- art sculpture. It is rather unsightly- looking and Wolf says as much, but Foxington replies "If you look closely enough, even trash can be recycled into something beautiful." To prove this, she demonstrates that, when a spotlight is shone on the sculpture at just the right angle, it creates a shadow resembling a beautiful swan. This serves as a good description of the Bad Guys themselves, and can also describe the flawed people and hard times in our own lives that God can do great things with.

Another theological message to be taken from 'The Bad Guys' is on sticking to what you know to be right, regardless of what others may think. Mr. Wolf struggles with this a lot, but again Governor Foxington is there to point him in the right direction. When the Bad Guys are about to engage in an attempted act of goodness, Wolf is feeling skittish about if the public will believe they really have changed their ways or not, but the Governor assures him, "Maybe they will believe you. Maybe they won't. It doesn't matter. Don't do it for them; Do it for YOU."

Another such moment occurs later on in the movie.
SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER FOR THE CLIMAX AHEAD!

Near the end, when Mr. Wolf has become estranged from the other Bad Guys for genuinely wanting to reform, Governor Foxington confides in him that she herself used to be an infamous burglar whose past heists were the stuff of legends, but she gave that up because she wanted to do better with her life. She tells Wolf, "Now, instead of hurting people, I'm helping them. I'm still me; I'm just me on the right side. You're doing the right thing, and someday your friends, if they're really your friends, will understand."
SPOILERS OVER!

Both of those moments drive home the important point that we should strive to do what is right, regardless of what other people (Even our friends) think of it. People's attitudes can change in a heartbeat, but following the Lord's guidance on what is right is something that's truly eternal. The Lord Jesus is the one whose opinion we should all truly care about. It's also a wise point that, if our "Friends" truly are friends to us, they will understand when we have to make tough choices and side with what is truly right. Proverbs 29:25 spells it out well: "It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe." In addition, the apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:10, "Am I saying this now to win the approval of people or God? A I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ's servant."

Making your decisions based on what is right, holy, and in service to the Lord rather than based on what people may think of you is always the way to go, and the sort of thin you will NOT regret later on.

That sums up 'The Bad Guys.' A hilarious, thoughtful film that shows us how God can even turn our lives' trash into something beautiful, and how He seeks for us to be more concerned with doing what's right than with being popular. By following that advice, even the worst "Bad Guys" among us can become good and do incredible things for God.

That's it for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back next week when I tackle the third film in this series. Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!

Never Throwing In the Towel, and Always Being Ourselves; A Faith- Based Look at 'Rumble.'

 Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
I am pleased to say that this blog is again renewing its partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for their annual Summer at the Movies series!
As in past years, each week for 4 weeks, the church will be airing a movie on a Wednesday night, I'll write a devotional to be passed out at the screening, and accompany it with an article here going more in- depth with the movie and messages that can be taken from it on how to live for Jesus.

Now, hold on tight and get your popcorn, fans, because for the first installment of this series, we will be looking at the hard- hitting animated film 'Rumble'!

Based on the graphic novel 'Monster on the Hill,' this takes place in a world in which giant monsters live peacefully with humans, and compete with each other in professional wrestling tournaments.
In the town of Stoker on Avon, monster wrestling is practically a way of life, with everyone for a long time being impressed with the legendary monster wrestler Rayburn and his equally beloved human coach/ manager, Jimbo Coyle. However, both of them were apparently lost at sea, and the wrestling world continued to mourn their loss. Stratford eventually gets themselves back on top by hosting a new wrestling champ named "Tentacular" (Voice of Terry Crews), but after winning a big championship, Tentacular announces he's leaving Stratford for a bigger city. This means that Stratford no longer has a monster wrestler to attract money and publicity to their town and thus their beloved wrestling arena that was dedicated to the memory of Rayburn and Jimbo may need to be repossessed and torn down. 
However, all is not lost: Jimbo's spunky daughter Winnie (Voice of Geraldine Viswanathan), who inherited her father's love of wrestling and skill for coaching, is determined to find a way to save things, and so she heads to an underground wrestling ring to find a new champion. She eventually comes across a monster who turns out to be Rayburn's son, Rayburn Jr. (Voice of Will Arnett), aka "Steve the Stupendous," and convinces him to help her.
Junior is definitely NOT the champion- material that his father was. Among other things, he works in this underground wrestling ring as what's known as a "Jobber," which is a wrestling slang term for a wrestler hired to lose every time. Junior in fact refers to himself as "The best loser there is." As a result, he goes into pretty much every match preparing to take a dive and throw the fight. When Winnie realizes this, she knows she needs to break him of this habit

Winnie eventually discovers that Junior has a passion for salsa dancing, and realizes that with a little creativity, she can use that to come up with an effective wrestling strategy involving him having a dance- based style to how he fights. Sure enough, while it looks rather silly this strategy enables Steve/ Junior to start winning matches and rising up in the ranks, with even the most naysaying of sports commentators starting to come around to him. It all leads up to him having to face Tentacular in a championship bout to determine the fate of the arena.

A weakness the film has is, while its main antagonist is Tentacular, another is this rich guy named Jimothy Brett- Chadley III (Voice of Ben Schwartz, whom I normally like as a voice actor), who is behind Tentacular's move and the attempted demolition of the arena. He's basically just a dime- a- dozen "spoiled, social media- addicted, rich creep who talks in hashtags too much" villain, and gets on your nerves in practically every scene he's in. I feel like he could have been cut from the movie, and we wouldn't have lost much.

Aside from that, 'Rumble' was quite a nice movie!

The animation was solid, the story was pretty engaging, it had a good amount of humor (Especially from a scene near the climax when the people of the town prepare a brutal obstacle course/ training course to help Junior prepare for the big bout against Tentacular), and the fight scenes/ wrestling matches were VERY well- animated. It really felt like watching a pro- wrestling match, just with giant monsters instead of people.
Speaking of which, the monster designs are really creative, too, with each one looking unique. They often include elements of two or more animals combined together. My favorite was probably "Ramarilla" (Voiced by real- life pro wrestler Joe Anoa'i, aka "Roman Reigns"), an ultra- energetic gorilla/ ram monster that Junior briefly fights around the middle of the movie. He looked great, combined both animal aspects well (And considering that gorillas are my favorite animals, that's a BIG plus in my book) and had tons of personality.

Most of the voice- work is pretty solid, including Tony Shalhoub (Who I've known from one of my all- time favorite TV shows, 'Monk') as a local diner owner who's a major wrestling fan.

Now, for the main character run- down.
Winnie makes for a nice heroine. A good role model for girls, spunky but not aggressive or annoying. It's clear that she deeply loves wrestling, and deeply loved her father, and is determined to help his legacy endure in any way that it can.

Rayburn Junior works well too, on the monster side of things. He's mostly funny, but has some good serious moments as well. He contrasts well with Winnie, as while they both have the legacies of famous fathers, they feel differently about it: Winnie loves the idea of continuing the great work of her father, whereas Rayburn Junior feels a lot of pressure from it, hence why he hides his identity behind the wrestler name "Steve the Stupendous." He struggles so much with being compared to his father and feeling like he'll never measure up. In short, while Winnie sees her father's legacy as a goal to reach for, Junior sees his own father's legacy as more like a heavy stone weighing him down. Will Arnett (Who has been proving to be quite an excellent voice actor over the last several years, such as through his hysterical work voicing Batman in the assorted 'Lego' movies) does a typically great job as his voice, with humor but also sadness and poignance in key scenes.

Tentacular acts as kind of the epitome of a sports- movie villain: The undefeated champion who is the main opponent for the hero to eventually face, and is an egotistical, bullying jerk about it. From how coldly he dismisses the town that started his career early on, right up to his insulting and smack- talking Junior and Winnie near the climax, you'll be eager to see him get taken down a few pegs.

All in all, while maybe not the most memorable animated film to come out in recent years, 'Rumble' is a fun romp for the whole family, ESPECIALLY if that family happens to be wrestling fans!

'Rumble' comes with a couple good Scriptural messages.
First, in the devotional I passed out at the screening, is on the importance of never giving up in life, but to keep getting back up again and again. As I said earlier, Rayburn Junior starts the movie as a "Jobber" who's accustomed to throwing the fight and deliberately losing, but Winnie eventually teaches him the importance of not surrendering so easily and pushing himself all the way to the end. This calls to mind 2 Corinthians 4:16- 17 AND Proverbs 24:16, both of which deal with enduring through hardships and getting back up again when life knocks you down.

I think another relevant Scriptural message to be found in 'Rumble' is on the importance of being yourself. While Winnie and Junior start out basically seeking to copy their respective fathers' strategies and styles in wrestling, they achieve true success through instead being themselves, tapping into the gifts, interests and strategies they already personally have (i.e. Using Junior's love of dancing to create a new fighting style that he uses to start winning matches). Winnie's mother sums it up early in the movie with a wise line of "Train the monster you have, not the monster you wish you had." I think what that line boils down to is don't pretend to be something you're not, or relying on what other people use to get ahead; Instead, play to your own strengths and don't care what others think. Winnie herself then says near the end of the film, "We don't have to be our dads; We just have to be ourselves. They wrote their stories, and we're writing ours right now."
God wants us each to be ourselves using the special gifts and talents that only we have. It reminds me of Psalm 139: 14, which says "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; My soul knows them well." We must keep in mind that all of us are God's creations, carefully and uniquely made by Him with love and care to be just the way we are. God doesn't make failures or garbage, He made us each the way we are to accomplish His will in various ways. I can picture Him smiling lovingly as He handcrafts each of us.
In addition, Romans 12:6- 7 says "Having gifts that differ one from another, let us use them: If prophecy, in proportion to our faith; If service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching." Each of us has gifts, given to us by God, which vastly differ from each other. Each of these gifts, even the ones that seem useless (I.e. Junior, son of a great monster wrestler, having a gift for dancing), can be used by God to do wonderful things to do His will and bring His Kingdom on Earth, if we will harness them and learn to use them the right way.

And so, there we have 'Rumble,' a nice fantasy film which teaches us even nicer messages on never giving up even when things get tough, and on being ourselves and using the gifts we ourselves have in service to the Lord. By doing those, I'd say each of us can become true champions in the eyes of the Lord Jesus.

That's it for this entry on the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back next week when I look at the next film in this series. Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!