Matt's Blog

Watched SM2 with the kids this afternoon. Of course it's a very good movie. Good action (a bit scary for the kids maybe--at one point Will told us he was tired of the movie and was going to his room, but after snuggling up with mom, he was ok). And a great examination of the importance of the choices we make, one that was not lost on Will--he agreed that if someone is in trouble we should help them, even if it is scary or dangerous.

And surprisingly (or maybe not), it was Maly that found the religious questions raised by the film. (Although, maybe not the religious questions that others have found.) During the final action climax, when all heck is breaking loose and the big ball of fire is growing and sucking everything into it, Maly says, "Spiderman should probably be praying to Jesus." I agreed that that would probably be a good idea. "Yeah, then Jesus could come beat Doc Oc up, cuz he's bigger than anybody." I told her that it wasn't really Jesus's style to beat people up. When she asked why not, I told her we'd talk about it later. Soon after, Doc Oc has a change of heart. I told the kids that he was good now (sometimes they need a little help following the subtleties of the plot). Maly says, "Maybe Jesus can make him a good guy." Yeah, I agreed, that's more his style. Of course from Maly, another question, this time, "How?" I told her he changed people's hearts, and fortunately and explosion or something happened at that point, or I would have soon found myself in over my head.