Fairytales Triumphed 2014

   Last year, Disney released two fairytale-based films: Maleficent and Into the Woods. The first is a twist on their classic Sleeping Beauty film, this time told from the villain's perspective. The latter is a movie version of the 1987 Broadway musical. I believe that these two films were the most important movies of 2014. Why?
   First, they both hold some valuable morals and lessons we can take from them. In Maleficent, the title character is entrapped in anger and bitterness after being betrayed by her love. The once-joyous fairy becomes the "mistress of all evil." Yet, her story doesn't end there...she grows in fondness of the Princess Aurora, whom she cursed as an infant. Through her motherly love for the girl, Maleficent is redeemed from evil. All people are sinners, but that does not necessarily have to be the end for our stories. Through the selfless love of Jesus Christ, we can be redeemed, and brought into a relationship with God.
   Maleficent also gave an example of the importance and power of motherhood. In connection with that, Into the Woods had a great emphasis on the importance of fathers (which is lacking in much of the media today).
   The Baker in the film was deserted by his father as a small boy. Many years later, he almost makes the same mistake with his own infant son. However, his father's ghost implores him to "not make the same mistake [he] did." The Baker returns to his child and decides to tell him the story that is Into the Woods. He sets about the scary, exciting, and wonderful journey of being a father.
   America is a culture where we can wish for just about anything. We can often get our wishes through hard work and perseverance, but do we ever stop to wonder the consequences of our wishes? Into the Woods uses nearly all of the two-hour screen time to answer that question. Our desires may seem good to us, but sometimes they have consequences, big and small. Achieving our dreams is not always a bad thing, but we should be aware of what will happen to those around us. To take an example from Into the Woods, Jack climbs a tall beanstalk and steals gold from a giant. He is chased, but chops down the beanstalk, killing the giant. Happy ending, right? Well, just wait: a second beanstalk is accidentally grown, and the giant's wife comes down in search of Jack. In doing so, she causes earthquakes across the kingdom and destroys much of the forest. Jack persevered to get his wishes, but it caused pain and loss for many other people (and eventually caused loss for himself).
   So, yes, Into the Woods had a number of flaws, and Maleficent did lack in a few areas, but I feel these films were the best of 2014. As a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's books, I must say that I loved The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, but in honesty, I believe the other two films did far better in conveying morals.

You can read Family-in-Mind's reviews for the films by clicking the links below:
Maleficent
Into the Woods