If there was ever a movie about the education of the soul, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is that movie. To gain the ultimate prize, more than gold or glory, Indy must become humble and stand on the the Word of God. Choosing wisely means passing on the mistakes of the educational grifter, the shiny cups, and taking the cup of the carpenter. It is not easy to choose. . . . wisely … when it comes to school. The pressure... Read more
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a motion picture that deals with the formation of a human soul. To achieve the goal, the greatest goal of mythology which is the Holy Grail, will require character as well as courage. Courage and character are good descriptions of the desirable outcome of a Christian education. Students in America learned history for moral lessons, science to think God’s thoughts after Him, and language arts to wrestle with the Divine Word. In the first... Read more
Everything you need to know about education can be found in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This is an overstatement, of course, but not much of one. Character will define the education you receive or give and character is the theme of the last Indy film: have it and you choose wisely and live, turn out to be a Nazi or a self-serving worm and die. You might survive a school bureaucracy as a totalitarian or a grifter, but you will never... Read more
Walt died making this film and fortunately the movie was almost worthy of the man. This is a jolly film, but also about growing up and endings. Disney would not make an animated film this good until Little Mermaid. Forget the book, Kipling put too much of his white man’s burden in the dark stories for Walt, and so this is a movie having almost nothing to do with the troubled source material. Thanks, Walt. The Sherman Brothers and company produced... Read more
Walt was dying the year I was born, but nobody knew it yet, not even Walt. His genius had turned to Disneyworld and away from animation. Mary Poppins was very profitable, but Sleeping Beauty had failed. To make things worse, the Disney studio challenged the curse of King Arthur: the universal rule that anything based on the Matter of Britain in pop culture will be dreadful, forgettable, crude, or worse. This curse is best described in the wonderful Lyre of... Read more
Walt Disney did not die immediately after making Mary Poppins, but he had made the best film his studio would make in his lifetime. Technically, it is not part of the animation canon, but it is such a remarkable film that I cannot leave it off a list of “what Walt taught me.” All that the geniuses of the studio had learned from the Mickey short cartoons to Sleeping Beauty came together in a movie practically perfect. Poppins does everything well.... Read more
The early 1960’s were a hopeful time . . . the last moment when World War II liberalism, Roosevelt’s coalition, ran the world and people could believe without causing laughter that Science would solve all our problems. The civilized world would spread and democratic values in the United Nations would solve rather than cause all the world’s problems. . . better living through chemistry before that meant drug abuse. The Dick V an Dyke show made suburban living look hip and racial reconciliation... Read more
No film is more beautiful than Sleeping Beauty. There are different approaches to beauty, but the Disney artists under Walt’s indulgence made the most beautiful film they were capable of making. The “story” is not great, but the look is beyond compare. You don’t go to the Magic Flute to follow the story (God bless the luckiest hack writer to ever live, Emanuel Schikaneder), but to hear Mozart’s sublime music. You should watch Sleeping Beauty, listen to the music, and... Read more
Lady and the Tramp is an ideal date movie: a bit scruffy, adventurous, romantic, and fun. Walt and company continued to churn out classics through the 1950’s in a silver age unmatched until Pixar started making films. Energy and story telling at Walt’s company nearly died in the 1940’s along with humanity in World War II. Walt liked civilization, but the end of the War started another more deadly conflict between liberty and tyranny. Stalin’s Russia was more seductive than... Read more
I can fly, just like Wendy, I can fly. Or so I told my children growing up because Wendy is the heart and soul of Disney’s Peter Pan. Peter is not particularly likable, but Wendy does what she can. I aspire to be like Wendy, capable of joyous childhood, but also able to grow up. I want to grow up, but not to be a codfish and Uncle Walt shows us the way. What did Walt teach me? Wendy is... Read more
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