Furry Vengence

 Although this movie has been criticised by many people as mediocre and filled with low standard of live actions by funny animals, I have no doubt that it did entertain kids and animal lovers in general. Animals are out this time for a real "furry vengeance" against unscrupulous and greedy property developers who have no respect for them and nature in general. Racoon, bear, squirrel, crow and ferret and squirrel are all dressed for battle.

The Sanders family has just relocated to Oregon Woods from Chigaco for a supposedly exciting new position offered to Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser) overseeing the construction of eco-friendly houses. He's been appointed as the head of this important project and sees the opportunity of a better life for himself and his family. Dan is happy and very motivated but his son is pretty annoyed that he particularly has been brought in the middle of nowhere and left to himself with no entertainment and friends.

What Sanders does not know is that  a big surprise is awaiting ahead. He will face opposition from a band of local woodland critters well prepared to oppose him. They will inflict on him all sorts of pain and torture.

Honestly it isn't a great movie but in my opinion, it contains a powerful message regarding human behaviour and action towards nature and animals. When money is the big question on the table, humans don't care about others. They destroy happiness, brutalise nature, disturb those living in peace in the woods and create enemies.

Animals are our best friends. They are pure, cute, loving and they respond back to love when it is given to them, so why do we have to illtreat them? Let them live in peace. This planet belongs to them and they have legal rights to be here for free.

The Philosophy Behind Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is more than a DreamWorks animation - it's a philosophy presented in a playful, accessible way for anyone willing to listen. Beneath the colourful animation and action lies a story rich in life lessons about passion, determination, self-belief, and human character. 

We meet Po, a loveable, round panda, living among Chinese pots and noodles in his family's noodle shop. Though kind-hearted, Po Longs for more: he dreams of becoming the legendary Dragon Warrior. Alone, he imagines himself mastering martial arts, far from the mundane world of Noodles. His father, the duck, hopes Po will continue the family business, reflecting a tension many of us know-the tug-of-war between parental expectation and personal passion. 

Yet Po's heart is set on his dream, and he patiently waits for the right opportunity. That moment comes when a nearby fight tournament featuring the Furious Five takes place. Against all odds, Po finds a way in, demonstrating creativity and determination, even building a makeshift rocket chair to reach the courtyard. There, he meets master Oogway, who instantly recognises Po as the future Dragon Warrior, much to everyone else's disbelief. Po himself is stunned, but the cheering audience encourages him to go forward.

From that moment, a journey of rigorous training under Master Shifu begins. Po faces scepticism and gossip about his weight, as well as doubts about his abilities. He struggles in a "deadly training field," where success demands trust, perseverance, and focus. Master Oogway reminds him: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift."  This reminds me of what the Bible says: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34) Po learns that actual growth comes from embracing the present, confronting challenges and believing in oneself -even when others doubt you.

The characters in Kung Fu Panda reflect aspects of our own society and selves.

Po's father mirrors the natural tendency of parents to impose their expectations, often unintentionally obstructing their children's passion.

The Furious Five show how people judge others superficially, doubting abilities based on appearances rather than potential.

Tai Lung, the antagonist, represents envy and opposition - those who try to block others from succeeding out of jealousy or malice. 

Master Oogway, however, embodies encouragement, mentorship, and wisdom, seeing potential where others do not and guiding Po with patience and trust. 

These reflections invite us to ask: Who are we in our own lives? Are we supportive like Oogway, critical like the gossiping warriors, obstructive like Po's father, or envious like Tai Lung? And most importantly, like Po, do we pursue our dreams with courage and faith, despite obstacles, doubts, or societal expectations?

Kung Fu Panda reminds us that passion and purpose, coupled with perseverance and a good heart, can overcome even the most daunting challenges. It is a story that teaches through action, humour, and heart - showing that the journey toward one's dream is as meaningful as achieving it. 

Up - Three Kinds of Ambition

There is a difference between chasing a goal without purpose and going after one with meaning. The first is usually linked to selfish ambition, while the second is about fulfilling a dream or vision.

Selfish ambition is the desire to achieve things like success, status, recognition, money, or power without caring about others. It is all about reaching a goal, sometimes no matter the cost. People with selfish ambition put themselves first and may hurt or use others to get what they want. This kind of ambition often comes with traits like narcissism, pride, and a need for fame or authority. It can make someone ignore ethics, compassion, and the impact of their actions. When ambition lacks purpose or meaning, it becomes destructive rather than fulfilling. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself." (Philippians 2:3) In short, ambition feeds the ego.

Ambition with purpose happens when the drive to achieve is guided by a meaningful goal, values, or a sense of calling. This is what turns ambition into vision. Here, ambition is led by purpose, not just the desire for success. Success might come, but it is not the main goal. The real aim is to fulfil a mission, often inspired by personal experiences like loss, love, or a strong sense of calling.

The Disney-Pixar movie Up shows the difference between selfish ambition and ambition driven by a mission to fulfil.

Carl and Ellie start out as childhood friends and later get married. They both admire the famous explorer Charles F. Muntz.

Muntz discovers a legendary bird called a snipe during one of his explorations and shares his findings with the scientific community. Instead of praise, he faces criticism from people who think he is lying. To prove himself, protect his reputation, and stay famous, he becomes determined to find the bird no matter what and show it to everyone. Because of this, he withdraws from society and lives alone with his trained dog, still searching for the bird he believes belongs to him.

Meanwhile, Ellie and Carl live a happy life together and dream of visiting Paradise Falls. But things do not go as planned. Ellie becomes ill and passes away, leaving Carl feeling alone and stuck in the past. He holds on to the dream of reaching Paradise Falls. Driven by this mission, he invents a way to fly his house using thousands of balloons. Along the way, he is joined by Russell, a young boy who wants to earn his final Wilderness Explorer badge, the 'Assisting The Elderly' badge, by helping an older person.

Up introduces three characters, each with their own ambitions. 

Charles F. Muntz is motivated by selfish ambition. He wants to restore his reputation and win back the trust of the scientific community. He refuses to give up and is determined to capture the legendary bird, Snipe, to prove his discovery was real. His drive comes from pride, fame, and recognition, making his ambition ego-driven and harmful. He cares more about being right than doing what is right.

Carl Fredricksen's ambition is different from Muntz's. Carl is motivated by the pain of losing Ellie. His determination to reach Paradise Falls comes from love and grief, not selfishness. He believes that reaching Paradise Falls will fulfil Ellie's dream, but he eventually comes to understand that the real adventure was the relationships and experiences he shared with her and others.

Russell shows what innocent ambition looks like. Children rarely care about fame or glory, and if they do, it is not usually out of selfishness. For them, ambition is more about overcoming challenges, like passing a test. Russell's goal to earn his last Wilderness Explorer badge shows this kind of motivation. He is also kind and pure-hearted, which is clear in the way he cares for the legendary bird he names Kevin, even before he learns Kevin is female.

My 5 Favourite Cartoons

Cartoons were created to entertain kids. They are good fun and are also very instructive. Like all kids I was and am still fascinated by cartoons. I used to think that the sceneries and people were real, that they might exist somewhere. Cartoon movie is the only place where animals could talk and I like it because I love animals. Unfortunately nowadays cartoon is taking a different turn with much violence and bad things involved not worthy watching. Examples are: Sexy Magic Girl, Family Guy and South Park which I qualify as adult movies produced in a cartoon animated version. They are of violent nature (Sexy Magic Girl) and have much of the F words in them - Some are aimed to target teenager teaching them violence, sex and going on the street to kill.
However there are still very good cartoon movies available up there which I watch again and again from time to time and would recommend as well.

They are: Scooby Doo, The lion king, Madagascar 1& 2, Toy Story, kung fu Panda,

Scooby doo:
Recommended cartoon movies for kids. In this Investigative/Adventure cartoon movie, Scooby Doo and Shaggy Rogers are the perfect pair. They love each other and share the same strong taste for food and meat particularly. Scooby Doo is an adorable dog who captures the attention of everyone. He is funny and always “smiles” while acting stupidly when he is afraid. In each episode, he always runs from every situation which seems weird and frightening but he shows sincerity and unveil his talent when he has to save his owner Shaggy Rogers. Another trait of this “out of the ordinary” dog is that he shows some human characteristics; he is bipedal.

The Lion King: This is Disney’s captivating heart-warming story of a lion Simba who lives on the Land of Serengeti in Africa. There friendliness is common thing among all talking animals. Simba the cute Lion cub is learning the “Circle of life” taught by daddy. The attention is focussed on him as he would be the next king of the jungle after dad. Life’s lessons are hard but he has no choice.
Simba is a happy playful lion who likes adventure and plays the brave to look like daddy exposing himself to dangers and villains in the land of Serengeti. He and his friend are left under the care of a funny bird Zazu…

Madagascar 1&2, Action/Adventure story of Madagascar 1&2 have similarities to “The Lion King” where once more the king of the jungle is the protagonist among other talking animals. Friendliness is also well present among all animals. Contrary to other lions, Alex shows a preference to dance rather than learning to be a hunter like dad. One day driven by a bizarre moving object, he decided to investigate (beginning of Escape Madagascar 2) and his curiosity led to his capture by bad man. Contrary to Simba, Alex experienced a different environment far from the family boundary but the cute fellow is brave. He grew up in a zoo together with other animals whom he befriends. Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe along with other animals namely the zoo’s penguins. They are trying an escape but fail as they are sedated by tranquilizer darts. But thanks to animals activists they will be shipped back to Africa but shipwrecked on Madagascar shore.

In Madagascar 2 Alex and his friends plan to return home which is New York but their plane crashed coincidentally on the land of Africa where Alex will be reunited with his parents.

Toy StoryToy story is the fantastic world of animated toys. Andy the boy has a collection of toys and his most featured one is woody an old-fashion cowboy doll, but Andy will receive another toy who is a Space Ranger to the dismay of Woody who thinks that now he would not get the same attention from Andy. Buzz thinks that he is a real Space Ranger. Both toys in each other an interference in each other’s way and a series of events take place.

Kung fu Panda.3D animation set in China. Here the plot revolves around Po the giant panda who works in his goose father restaurant preparing noodle. Po has an attraction for Kung Fu but is forced to work in the restaurant. He somehow feels trapped in doing something he hates but has a good heart and obeys to his goose mum orders.
This is very important as it is this trait of character which will appoint him as the chosen dragon warrior.
Po is desperate to see the tournament but he arrives late at jade temple and the door is closed. He nevertheless manages to get in by strapping himself to a set of fireworks which rockets into the sky and crashes right in the middle of the fighting platform. Oogway the wise tortoise immediately feels that there is something special about the giant panda and identifies him as the Dragon warrior to the surprise of everybody. Begins a series of daily hard and tuff training for Po.
Kung Fu panda is not only fun but the lesson it teaches is great for kids as well as adults. The words said by the characters are set to create confidence and faith in people. It shows that everything is possible when we believe. Po’s fat body does not qualify him as the Dragon Warrior but he will become one because he is taught to believe and he finally succeeds.

Coraline

Coraline Jones has just relocated from Michigan to Oregon with her parents, leaving behind her friends and familiar surroundings. Her father, Charlie Jones, is a writer, and her mother, Mel, is the garden writing editor. Coraline is bored and feels lonely; her parents are workaholics and don't have time for her, at least that's how the situation appears. 

The house is old, the kitchen needs a makeover, the interior is not well decorated, and the garden is a mess. Everything about the house creates an unpleasant atmosphere, and it's too much for an eleven-year-old girl to bear. Besides, Mel does not cook for the family; she is responsible for cleaning and doing other tasks. Cooking is the father's duty, and Coraline is not appreciative of his food. 

Theerfore Coraline dreams. In her dream, she lives the perfect life she craves in her real life. She has what she calls her other mother. Her other mother is the opposite of her real mother. She is the cook and prepares the perfect dishes in a clean, well-decorated kitchen, much to Coraline's liking. Charlie is a pianist and takes care of the garden. As a result, the garden is a lush, vibrant place, harbouring colourful, vivid plants. The garden and the plants have been organised in a way that they reflect Coraline's face. Blue roses have been designed as her hair, pink flowers represent her rosy cheeks, and the rest have been planted to match her face. 

Everything seems fine except for the eyes of her other parents and Wybie. They had buttoned eyes that Coraline did not know why. Wybie did not talk.

Coraline cannot ask for more than that. All the attention is on her. She's been craving such a life that one day it would no longer be a dream, but it appears that her dream has become reality. She was really living the perfect life until one day her other mother made a request of her. She wants Coraline to sew buttons on her eye so that she would "see like us", which Coraline refused. 

She came back home through the small secret door only to find that her parents had disappeared. She fears teh worst and thinks the other mother has played a bad game to trap her parents. 

Coraline comes to her senses and realises that she might have asked for too much. She was not ready to trade her eyes for buttons, and trouble starts. The other mother reveals her true nature and Coraline 

lives the perfect life where the attention is on her. mel is the perfect cook always cooking her favourite food, dad is a pianist and he also takes care of the garden which is colourful and pleasant. The plants have been designed to reflect her face, with short, straight blue hair, rosy cheeks, and brown eyes. For sure, Coraline has created a perfect world for herself. Every morning

Wall-E

I watched Wall-E for the first time yesterday. The first 20minutes I was presented with a picture of boredom, simplicity and complexity mixed together. It’s a silent movie including a robot with a pair of binoculars perched on a metal box wheeling around cleaning up an inhabited town that‘s all. But little by little I discovered and appreciated the marvellous work of imagination of Pixar. In fact it has a great message.

The gentle, smiling little robot is Wall-E. His daily routine consists of sweeping garbage, compacting them and stacking them in heaps. He is followed by a lonely cockroach whom he befriends. For how long he does that and where he started we don’t know; but looking at the stacked garbage which has reached skyscrapers level give us an idea that this has been going on for quite a while. Wall-E has a taste for particular objects which strike his fancy. While cleaning he picks up items which seems interesting here and there . For instance he picks up a round “attractive lid” which he decides to keep and a blue box containing a diamond ring. He throws the ring and keeps the box leaving us smiling. Robot thing isn’t! We love diamond rings and Wall-E loves the blue box. His pass time is spent in his ramshackle headquarters watching replays of Hello Dolly, suspecting that there is a lot to learn from humans.


He is later joined by Eve another robot dropped on earth by a spaceship. Eve is an investigator, her mission is probably to analyse earth condition to see if humans can live in it again. In the meantime Eve and Wall-E become best friend and wall-e falls for her. Mission accomplished eve has to leave as the spaceship has come back to take her. Madly in love now, wall-E will cling to the spaceship to follow Eve.
Back in space the world of Eve, Wall-E discover a different life. There millions of people live in an luxurious orbiting space, piloted by an obese commander who spends his life in idleness among the passengers. Humans are served by sophisticated auto programmed robots purposely for that task. People’s lives are so wealth off that they can hardly move on their own and they are all obese.

This is ironic. The movie is in fact a prevailing fear to show that we are so damned consumed by latest technology that our planet could be at risk. Our rampant consumption, capitalism and competition, our futile selfish greediness to live in a luxurious world will bring our planet to its knees. So to speak.
Besides when humans are so absorbed by futility and turn crazy to the point of putting an end to civilisation, will robots be more intelligent and take over. Can wall-E restores life on planet earth and teaches us that they are now better than us because they can think wisely and find new solutions to tackle problems?Wall-E (Two-Disc and BD Live) [Blu-ray]

Race to witch mountain

Cast: Jack Bruno(Dwayne Johnson), Sara(AnnaSophia Robb), Seth(Alexander Ludwig),
Major Henry Burke(Ciarán Hinds) and professor alex(Carla Gugino)

Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) is a cab driver in Las Vegas. One morning he is shocked to see two kids Seth and Sara seated at the back of his car. They seem to be in a hurry and tell him to drive to a specific location. They present a big amount of money to convince him, Jack is not interested in the money but the kids arouse his curiosity so he agrees.Watch a trailer here

They arrived at an old house in the middle of nowhere. The place and the house is unusual. Why would two kids want to go there? Jack’s curiosity and concern lead him to follow them.
The kids are looking for a device and encounter a few issues with an alien called “Siphon”. Siphon is here on planet earth purposely to target and destroys the kids Seth an Sara.

Jack, even though does not understand what’s really going on, is determined to offer his help and protection to the two. The lives of all three is now a race. On their way Seth and Sara tell Jack that they are aliens and they explain their mission on planet earth.

On the other side Major Henry Burke a government agent and his team are searching for two aliens and somewhere he knows that they are friends to Jack and he pursues and bullies him each time to snatch the kids from him.

In fact the two aliens planet is dying and the government of that planet wants to invade the earth to save their own planet and continue to live. The kids mission on earth is in fact to prevent this to happen. The device they now have in their possession is an experiment conducted by their parents to save their planet and having found it they have to take it quickly home.
The old house to which they went to search the device is in fact the location where the kids’ parents conducted this experiment.

There is one big issue to overcome though. It’s to find the spaceship of Seth and Sara. They don’t have any clue about it but the cab driver knows one of his client namely professor Alex Friedman a failed scientist who is delivering a speech at a conference on legitimate scientific theories of UFOs and outer space. They are now joined by the professor and Seth and Sara discover that their crashed spaceship has been relocated to a government based at Witch mountain. The group head to witch mountain, once there the kids are unfortunately captured and brought to the laboratory for experiment. In the meantime Siphon arrives to the base creates distraction and allows the humans Jack and professor Alex Friedman to free the kids.
The team together with the humans launch the spaceship and escape through the tunnel of witch mountain. Siphon is defeated and destroyed and Seth and Sara drop off Jack and professor Alex. All four share a tearful goodbye and Sara gives Jack the power to read minds. Honesty the movie is just OK but for those who like Sci-fi movie, it’s a good one. Well since I was a small girl I was and am still fascinated with science and outer space.

My own interpretation is that it seems that Hollywood is trying to make people understand that UFO and aliens do exist and that the US government knows something but they hide the truth from the world. At a given point in the movie Dr Friedman will tell major Henry Burke that the world should know what’s going on.

It is may be foolish on my part to say so but if aliens are controlling the world, then all the chaos in the world could be directly related to them. Is planet earth controlled by aliens? If they have a different name, are they devils because this reminds me of the biblical passage in the bible:
Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms;

Who are the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. Alien? Devil? Have we ever thought about the connection between the two or are the same?