Wisdom of the Dinosaur

courtesy of Bing.com

Yesterday I held a sick child for almost the whole day.  ‘Sunshine’ had been sick with fever and vomiting the night before, and was staying home from kindergarten.  She lay across my lap while we rocked, and I caressed her face and hair.  In my grandma kingdom, this was a great day.

We watched a selection of Disney movies, starting with “Dinosaurs”.  We have watched this movie many times, but I have never been plastered in the chair by a five-year old with a fever of 101 degrees.  Usually, Sunshine and I watch a movie, and she gives me a running commentary on the movie along with her own unique insights.  You would be amazed by the perspectives a kindergartner has about life and theology.

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The plot is straight-forward:  a dinosaur egg miraculously escapes many brushes with crushing, ends up hatching in the tree occupied by a family of primates.  They adopt the adorable newly hatched dino and name him “Aladar”.  All goes well, happy times ensue, and Aladar (who is fortunately an herbivore) develops friendships and family. 

This is the bad dinosaur; he has sharp teeth, Grandma.

Then the meteor crashes into the water, all hell breaks loose; the primates climb onto Aladar and they manage to find safety.  There, they find out that all the herbivores are trekking to the safety of a distant valley where they go every year to breed.  From this point of the movie, all the dinosaurs must make choices that will either save them or lead to being consumed by two nasty carnivores.

There are some universal truths conveyed in that movie.  Go with me on this:

Everyone needs to love and be loved.

Everyone needs to know they are not alone.

Everyone needs to make conscious decisions for good or evil.

Aladar and his love interest

Everyone needs to be believed in and encouraged.

Everyone can change and grow.

Everyone has the potential to learn and the capacity to give to others.

Everyone must take chances, to make ‘a leap of faith’.

Everyone needs to trust and believe in something bigger than themselves, something they cannot see.

Okay, this is not a profound revelation.  I have never evaluated a movie for universal elements before, and I was struck by the way the movie displayed these characteristics. 

Then we watched “Night at the Museum (has a dinosaur)”, and “Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure (no dinosaur)”.  We both nodded off before Tinkerbell was able to repair the moonstone.  Dang.