Meet the Mormons

I don’t intend to make movie reviews a staple of this blog, but I wanted to put in a plug for this film that just opened in theaters last Friday. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to.

I was worried it might be really cheesy and sugarcoated or poorly filmed or dead boring. It was none of these. I was engaged and even entertained throughout, and the filming was all very professional and seamless. The only thing I can really complain about is the narrator was perhaps too perky.

The film doesn’t try to preach or defend any particular points of doctrine or church policy. It’s a documentary about the lives and experiences of six people who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I’m glad this was a film that I can highly recommend. But then, I’m a Mormon. What I really want is to know what other people think of Meet the Mormons.

Happy Yarning!

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Book Report: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

I picked this up on Saturday afternoon and finished it before dinner. It was a breath of fresh air for me from Inheritance. Well, perhaps not “fresh” air–more like a well-needed burp. This book would be great for boys  aged 7 to 12 (and girls too if they’re not above a bit of nose-picking).

The plot of the movie of the same name resembles the plot of this book in much the same way that an apple resembles an orange. Which is to say, not at all. The conflict was aged-up for the movie (hint: the addition of a love interest). However, both are clever and funny. I don’t know if I could pick my favorite.

One thing I liked better about the book was that the dragons had more personality. This is of particular interest to me because the next story I’m looking at writing involves (to put it simply) griffin familiars. Cowell’s dragons have different motives from the humans, which creates friction and conflict between them as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to figure out what makes his dragon, Toothless, tick.

I need to consider what kinds of conflicts would be inherent in a society made up of both humans and sentient griffins. It may be that because the griffins’ sentience stems from their bond with humans they operate on the same kinds of motives, but then again perhaps it is not so simple.