Virginia Linzee

I was not expecting to walk into a Pixar film with my 7 year old today and see one of my favorite movies ever!! I laughed out loud, I cried a lot, and felt so much love well up inside me. My daughter loved it absolutely, but I was completely moved. It was hard for me not to tell every stranger in the theater how much I love them as we were leaving (why do we hold ourselves back from doing such things?), and it made me fall in love with my husband all over again. It nourished my soul. It's a great kid's movie, a great date movie, and a great movie for humanity. Especially in a time when so many people are divided. Do yourself a favor, go see it, it's a wonderful (and true) message. If these are the kinds of movies being made for kids these days, I have a little more hope in humanity. I'm a grad student in Peacebuilding, Public Theology, and Inner Transformation as well as an activist in a number of international conflict zones and work with a lot of refugees. As someone who studies the effects and psychology of what's behind these conflicts, what ti takes to resolve them, what leads to peace, generational trauma healing, the theology and science of peace and violence, as well as dealing with my own personal journey in some of these areas, I was extremely impressed with the sophisticated understanding that the writer Peter Sohn has of these dynamics. It is cliche, but in the end, love (especially across lines of difference) really does change the world, and this little animated love story captured a lot of deep dynamics in a real and powerful way. It's quite sophisticated in its awareness of many human dynamics, but equally enjoyable on the surface for small children (my 7 year old loved it too). I plan to watch it many times. It's beautiful.