Table of Contents
OPINION:
“Wonka” isn’t melt-in-your-mouth perfect, but delights as a sweet treat; be reminded of the hope of Jesus with “Christmas with The Chosen: ‘Holy Night;’” and “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” offers important lessons for parents and children.
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Read on to get Plugged In on what’s beyond the movie titles and trailers for faith-filled and family-first reviews from Focus on the Family’s Plugged In.
Wonka – In Theaters December 15
I wasn’t really asking for a Willy Wonka origin story. I don’t recall many other people doing so, either. In fact, I doubt the eccentric chocolatier’s backstory was very high on anyone’s list of hopeful releases.
With that in mind, you can be sure that I went into my “Wonka” viewing with complete indifference. And by the time I left, I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised, both by the plot and by a number of jokes that actually made me laugh out loud. I found myself enjoying “Wonka” more than I thought I would.
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Of course, watching “Wonka” is a bit like sinking your teeth into a chocolate chip cookie only to find out that it’s actually full of raisins — they might not ruin the experience, but they dampen the experience somewhat. That’s because while “Wonka” remains generally pretty tame, there are a few bites that parents will need to consider, such as its satirical depiction of a corrupt Catholic church and a couple of its cruder jokes.
But I’m not sure if “Wonka” is really any worse, overall, than previous entries within the Willy Wonka cinematic universe. Recall, for instance, the genuine mortal peril that Charlie and his fellow child contestants were in, both in the Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp cinematic versions.
So, no, “Wonka” isn’t as pure as his chocolate is; it isn’t melt-in-your-mouth perfect. But it’s still a relatively sweet treat.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here.
Christmas with The Chosen: Holy Night – In Select Theaters until December 17
Henry David Thoreau famously wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” You can feel that desperation at times in this story. In Joseph. In Mary. In a lame shepherd trying so hard to find acceptance but experiencing only rejection.
Perhaps you feel that quiet desperation, too. I know I do.
We live amid unceasing hustle and desperation. Pressure and deadlines. Demands and expectations. Secret hurts, hidden in our hearts, even as we go about our mostly mundane tasks: We work, we love, we sleep, we wonder. Sometimes we weep. And then we do it all over again the next day.
Our stories, they are each different. Yet each, paradoxically, is also the same: We make our way through our days, looking for meaning and purpose, aware in tender moments of those quiet aches in our joints, in our souls, in our relationships.
Watching “Christmas With The Chosen: ‘Holy Night,’” I felt all of that. And I was confronted anew with the startling story at the core of our faith: Jesus came into our world — our sweaty, bloody, weary world — to give us an anchor beyond the desperation that stalks our long days and sometimes longer nights. His first cries pierce the night, even as the shepherds burst through a barn door to witness His tiny majesty, knowing that this babe’s plaintive wails herald hope.
More than once watching this story, I felt tears welling up. Tears of my own tiredness, my own longing for hope, my own recognition of how easy — oh, how perilously, ridiculously easy — it is to lose track of what matters most.
But there He is, the One born in a lowly manger to two scared but beautifully trusting kids: Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. “Christmas With The Chosen: ‘Holy Night’” imagines what that precious night might have looked like, pointing us once more toward Jesus.
That is the message here. And oh how we need to be reminded of the hope that His birth still brings.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here. Get tickets here.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget –Streaming on Netflix
How long does chicken last? In the fridge, not that long. On the screen? Significantly longer. Or at least so Netflix hopes.
Aardman Animations — the same outfit behind the “Shaun the Sheep” and “Wallace” and “Gromit” shorts and films — released the original “Chicken Run” 23 years ago. With its heroic hen heroine and a delightful “Great Escape”-like vibe, “Chicken Run” was a commercial hit (earning $224.9 million worldwide) and a critical smash (97% on Rotten Tomatoes).
“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” might not be quite as fresh and clever as the original. But it’s still a pretty delightful film — one that feels beautifully retro (thanks to its painstaking Claymation animation style) and ever so hip (cribbing heavily from James Bond, the “Mission Impossible” films and, unless I’m mistaken, even offering a nod to “Mystery Science Theater 3000”).
And even though the stakes were incredibly high in the original (they don’t get much higher for a chicken, at any rate), “Dawn of the Nugget” brings with it a greater level of power and poignancy: the desire of a mom to protect her child.
That’s something many of us can relate to — the need to keep our kids safe. That’s what, I’d imagine, brings many of you to Plugged In. You want to know what your kids will be exposed to if you let them watch this or that. And make no mistake, your protection on this and myriad other levels, is important. Often critical. Kids need to have a loving, safe environment to grow.
But “Dawn of the Nugget” reminds us that we can’t keep our own chicks completely safe forever. Eventually they push against our protections. Eventually they need to make their own choices.
Ginger wants to protect daughter Molly from everything she can. But the unavoidable truth, for her and for us, is that we can’t fully keep our kids from everything that’s potentially perilous. Our goal can never be to keep them safe forever, but rather prepare them for the dangers that lie ahead.
Molly is unprepared for those dangers at first — mainly because she doesn’t know there are dangers at all. But Ginger, perhaps, did give Molly the wherewithal to face those dangers: a resourceful mind; a desire to help; a courageous spirit. All those come in handy when it’s Molly who’s forced to guide Ginger to safety.
“Dawn of the Nugget” certainly has issues that parents should be mindful of, from its slapstick violence to occasionally rude bits of humor. But overall, this “Chicken Run” sequel is fun, sweet and sometimes downright hilarious.
And, if you’ll pardon the phrase, those nuggets of wisdom make this film all the tastier.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here.
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Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving families the essential tools they need to understand, navigate, and impact the culture in which they live. Through our reviews, articles and discussions, we hope to spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Reviews written by Paul Asay, Adam Holz and Kennedy Unthank.
