[easyazon-image-link asin="B0011U52EC" alt="Enchanted (Widescreen Edition)" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BPVikkgjL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="115" height="160"] A very sweet film about a princess, from the ‘Disney animated world’ who suddenly finds herself in the ‘real world’.  In her ‘fairy-tale world’, everyone is kind, truthful and happy.  It is very ‘normal’ to sing about everything and everyone and of course there are always happy endings.   She therefore gets quite a shock when she realises that real life is not quite like that!  As a stranger in this world, a father and daughter look after her until her ‘one true love’ is able to find her and take her back home.

Scene 6, 23 minutes 40 seconds until 27 minutes, 15 seconds (approximately 4 minutes)

The scene I have chosen is where Giselle sings a song to Robert, trying to explain to him that he needs to show (rather than just tell) his fiancee that he loves her.  Robert, however, is not too keen on these ideas.  The obvious way to use this clip is as an introduction to ‘love’, maybe even around Valentine’s Day.

You could begin by asking the children what they think love is?  How do people show that they love each other?  Did the children manage to notice all the different ways that Giselle suggested to Robert how he should show Nancy (his fiancee) how much he loved her? (I have listed them at the end of this section for you!)  This discussion could then lead on to how does God show that he loves us?    How do we show that we love God?

Love is mentioned lots of times in the bible.  This clip could be just a fun way of introducing the concept of love, whether that be “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” or the ‘Love Chapter’ in Corinthians or “Love one another”, etc.  The list is endless!

Possible ways to show love, as listed in the song! (A note, flowers, marriage, dancing, dedicating a song, wearing his/her favourite colours, a private picnic…….) Again, I stress, this clip is just a ‘fun‘ look at love and how we as humans like to try and show others we love them.  I’m sure the children will be able to think of many more ideas!

Another discussion that may result from this film clip is the difference between what we say and what we do.  Robert in the film was not too keen on outward expressions of love for his fiancee Nancy.  He thought just telling her that he loved her was enough.  When people look at our lives, can they see that we love God in the way that we behave?  It is not enough to tell people that we are Christians and that we love God, it needs to be seen in the way we live, our attitudes, our reactions, our conversations, etc.  It’s about walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

[easyazon-image-link asin="B004HO6HXY" alt="Gnomeo & Juliet" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61e9sI3qSbL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="116" height="160"]A very funny film about two sets of gnomes, the reds and the blues.  They live in two different gardens next to each other and do not get on.  Just as in the story of Romeo and Juliet, a red gnome (Juliet) and a blue gnome (Gnomeo) fall in love with each other.  This causes lots of problems and at the end of the film there is a ‘battle’ between the ‘blues’ and the ‘reds’ and we are led to believe that the two ‘true loves’ have died.  However, the film does have a happy ending and the two sets of gnomes call a truce and forgive each other.

Scene 10 for approximately 11 minutes (or longer if you want to include the closing song).

This scene is at the end of the film and shows the battle between the reds and the blues and also the truce and friendship that comes as a result of them believing that Gnomeo and Juliet have died (although in actual fact they haven’t!).

This would be a good clip to use as you introduce the question: ‘Who is my neighbour?’, as talked about at the beginning of the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I would show them the clip and then talk about the fact that although they were gnomes, they were in fact ‘neighbours’ too.  I may then ask the children to think about their own neighbours and ask them what they think a ‘neighbour’ is.  I would read to them Luke 10:27 and ask them who they thought Jesus was talking about when he said ‘neighbour’.  Hopefully the discussions would continue and eventually they would work out that ‘everyone’ is our neighbour.  This clip may also lead to discussions about the dangers of arguing, fighting and war and also the importance of saying ‘sorry’.

You could also talk about the fact that Gnomeo loved Juliet so much, that he was willing to die for her.  He refused to leave her alone to face the attack of the lawnmower and tried his best to move her out of the way before it destroyed her.  It was an impossible task, however, as her father had ‘glued’ her to the stone, to prevent her wandering away with Gnomeo!  There is an obvious link/introduction here to the fact that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to suffer a terrible death on the cross, so that we could have eternal life with God in heaven.