The Pilgrim's Progress

I have recently gone through the felt board set and lessons by Betty Lukens on the broad path and the narrow path. I great christian building series. I want my kids to be really solid Little Christians. In our lessons I came across the children's book of Pilgrim's Progress and I spent a Sunday reading it to my kids. They LOVED it and I had seen this DVD so I bought it also. I previewed it at home and was very pleasently surprised. My 7 and 8 year old daughters watched it with me and demanded to watch it again as soon as it ended the first time. We really enjoyed it. I gave it a 5 Star rating because all of my children church kids loved it. It took two Sundays to watch the whole movie. When we didn't get to finish it the first Sunday (because parents were arriving to take them home) the kids were begging to finish it and wanted their parents to come back when it was over. I have about 20 kids in Children's Church and they come to me from the nursery at age 3 and the oldest children are in 5th grade. So I have a very wide age group but all of them loved the movie.Now here is the only part that I was not happy with. I have taught my kids over and over that at the narrow gate only one person can go through at a time. That you can't push, pull, rope whatever anyone else through. And nobody, mom, dad, grandparents, siblings can push, pull etc you through. Each person has to make that decision themselves and go through by themselves. When Christian gets to the gate he does ask Goodwill if he can enter and why he wants to enter. Good so far but then Goodwill opens the gate for Christian and yanks him in. What?!!! I paused the movie and asked my kids what was wrong. Actually I didn't really have to ask because they all knew and were shocked and not happy about it. I explained that I thought maybe Goodwill saw the firey arrows coming so he was trying to hurry Christian up so he could close the gate and they would be protected. I also told them that the movie was wrong and they agreed. We talked about how this could be confusing to kids who hadn't already learned about the two paths. They agreed and we moved on.I still love the movie and of course my kids to do. In fact I have made them costumes and we are going to act it our together this Sunday. (Coustumes are just made from pillowcases not real professional but my kids don't care they just love to dress up and act it out. Give it a try.)I love the story of Pilgrims Progress and have from a child. I highly recommend it to all adults and children. I have bought my kids the childrens version book to take home. What a great tool to send home with kids who don't have Christian parents!I just bought each of them this DVD too. That is how much I think of this movie and I know God will use it in these children's homes! After all His Word will not come back void.It's like my pastor says "Let's get as many hooks in the water as we can and show people the way to Jesus. Our job is to be a disciple and make disciples."

I have read the children's version of this classic story with my Sunday School kids (5th graders) and I was excited to see the DVD animated version. To my disappointment, I thought that the movie was a bit dry and the animation was subpar (but then again, this is not Disney or Pixar).I was a bit reluctant to share this movie with my new Sunday School class(3rd graders) because I thought that the children would be bored out of their minds. However, I truly believe that the message in this classic story adopted from Bunyan's original work is timeless, and can serve as a valuable teaching tool for both adults and children.I prefaced the screening of the movie with a warning that it may become boring at times, but I encouraged the children to pay close attention to the story. To my surprise, they LOVED it! They really got into the story, asking questions about the characters and places. They were really disappointed when I had to stop the film because our class time had run out. I am definitely looking forward to completing the movie with them and discussing a Christian's pilgrimage through life.This is a definite must for any Sunday School teacher and Christian family. As long as my kids enjoyed it, I couldn't be more pleased. A++++++++++

Do you have a burden on your back?How can one be saved? Saved from what? Do you like living your life your way? Have you found your ways to be hard? Did you know that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Did you know the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)? Would you like to know if you died today how to get into heaven?Believe unto the Gospel "Good News" of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!" By faith ALONE that He is who He said He is: I and the Father are One (John 10:30). Jesus is God, that He died for your sins and rose again defeating death. It is by Christ ALONE one can be saved (John 14:6).For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlastinglife (John 3:16)

The movie is kid approved with mild scary parts during the battle scenes depicted in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The movie is fairly true to the book with some missing adventures since the book is too long for the movie to contain everything. Some of the more implied parts of the book are explained more fully so that children and young Christians can understand the hidden meanings within the story. Some of the scary parts of the book are likewise implied in the movie to make it more kid friendly. I highly recommend the movie to anyone looking for a solid Christian cartoon based on a classic piece of Christian literature for the kids that even adults will enjoy.

I have to say that when I initially saw the illustration on the cover and potentially what looked like a poorly animated movie, I was convinced that this would hold no interest for my 5 year old daughter. Boy was I wrong, she loves it and asks to watch this everyday!I must admit that I have grown pretty fond of this production as well. Despite the low budget and rather stiff animation and voice overs, this movie has a charm all its own. My daughter has been asking me questions about God and Jesus and actually understands the premise of this allegory far better than I could explain it to her. I highly recommend this DVD! The Pilgrims Progress along with Grace Abounding are my favourite Bunyan books and I am so happy to be able to shere this with my child :)