Top 20 Gospel-Paralleling Disney Movie Quotes

Mad Hatter Quote

20 Things Disney Characters Have Said that Parallel Biblical Principles

 

Who doesn’t love a good Disney movie? The animation is out of this world, the storytellers are the world’s greatest, and there is usually a moment toward the movie’s end that makes you work to choke back tears. Don’t worry—your secret’s safe with me. Simply put, Disney is pure cinematic genius.

 

Some call the emotive scene at the end of the movie a “moral,” but there’s more to it than that. Our hearts tug on stories with a redemptive component because we were made for redemption. God himself placed a deep longing in our hearts for the kind of redemption that only he provides.

 

We know that the world is broken and if we’re honest, we feel it inside us too. Even so, a story that reminds us that “all is redeemable” is power. And the good news, folks? The theme of redemption comes from a place of truth. So, share these clips with your kids and let the conversation follow. With no further ado, introducing the top 20 Disney movie quotes paralleling gospel truths:

 

20. “You used to be much more…muchier. You’ve lost your muchness.”

-The Mad Hatter to Alice, Alice in Wonderland (2010)

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Keeping the Faith in Big Decisions

Nature Path

One of the hardest things in the life of our faith is making big decisions. How do we keep the faith when the impact of our decision could be consequential? My friend and fellow writer, Sharla Hallett wrote the following guest post for Something Like Scales as an alternative takeaway of Paul’s Acts 9 “something like scales fell from his eyes” story. Here’s Sharla. 

 

Keeping the Faith in Big Decisions

 

The Biblical examples of people having to make hard, but impactful decisions of obedience are aplenty. God asks his servant to do something that does not make sense to him or her, perhaps even putting them in harm’s way. They must decide whether they will trust and follow God or do what makes sense to them in the moment. Read more

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Disney’s Alice and…Her Ebenezers

Alice Background

Alice in Wonderland (2010) is a story about Ebenezers. When Alice is a little girl, her father instills in her the brilliant idea to believe in “six impossible things before breakfast.” Later in life, as she’s preparing to slay the Red Queen and doubting she has what it takes, she’ll have to call upon this practice.

 

So, what even is an Ebenezer? An Ebenezer is a story from your past that reminds you that God is your “rock of help” in the present. Read more

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“I’m no longer a slave to fear”

Bethel song sums up my experience

 

What’s your biggest fear? For me, it’s been my health. In recent years, I’ve had some nagging health nuisances—little things that, over time, developed into bigger issues. I’ve been sent to the hospital, had repeat blood workups, and seen my practitioner’s head turn sideways, perplexed. In short, in the last few years, my immune system had seen better days.

 

Notice my verb tense: had not has. I am working on treating this as a thing of the recent past, not the present. But I’ll get to that shortly.

 

Amid my health fears, I was called to Mexico Read more

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How to Pray Through a Global Crisis

Woman Praying Hands

Plus, Anytime

 

Prayer feels weird for a lot of us for a lot of different reasons. But prayer is powerful, and the awkwardness of it or the struggle you feel in finding time to do it ought not to stop us. When we pray, we are calling down heaven into our present circumstances. We are calling on the God who created all things to exercise his power among us. The question isn’t so much Read more

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Encanto and our Stairway to Heaven

Encanto window

Disney’s Encanto is a movie for all the performers. All the achievers. All the perfectionists. And in this weary-worn world full of anxiety to perform, achieve, and perfect, we all need a message. A message about rest and about where our identity lies. Because isn’t that why we’re all tired? We’re trying to perfect an image of ourselves that is unsustainable. We are attempting to create our own self-worth. The worth of ourselves only ever came from Read more

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Jesus? I know him!

Watching Elf

Exercising faith in a world full of cynics: what Buddy the Elf teaches us about the gospel

 

Though I normally write about Disney and the gospel, this one makes it worth deviating from the norm. Disney-produced or not, this Jon Favreau-directed film became a Christmastime classic in my house almost twenty years ago. Since it’s considered newer to the repertoire of classic must-see Christmas movies, it’s hard to believe it’s been around that long. Along with so many others, the joy-filled, child-like antics of Buddy, the beloved giant green and yellow elf, will probably be featured on our screen sometimes after the turkey dinner on Thursday and before the tryptophan coma kicks in.

But…have you ever thought of it as a messenger of the gospel?!

You know the story. Starring Will Farrell as the main character, the movie, Elf depicts Read more

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All Saints Day is about a perfect God

Fighting for joy in our imperfections

 

It’s All Saints Day. I’ve always felt a little under-educated about what this day means and its origins within the Christian tradition. I know there is a somewhat complicated history between the Jewish festivals featured in the Bible and the holidays that came along thereafter, which are still celebrated around much of the modern world today. All Saints Day falls the day after Halloween. It’s a day when many are turning their interests from a holiday that focuses on the human experience of fear to a season that celebrates the One who came to rescue us from all fear.

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Who’s the Baddest of Them All?

Cruella

I’m not sure anymore…Cruella, antiheroes, and the gospel

In light of the gospel, what do we do with the antihero trend in Hollywood? As the lines of good versus evil get muddied, should we be appalled, confused, or cheer them on?

 

The other day, I got roped into being a fill-in character during my youngest daughter’s pretend play session with the neighbor girl. Since the two 6-year-olds both decided to be mermaids and I was the only other living and breathing thing within earshot, I was cast as both the mermaid-killer and the mermaid-healer. I was both the bad guy and the good guy all in one.

 

First of all, can I just stop and ask the fellow parents out there, Why the inverse relationship between age and ability to engage in imaginative play? I wish I weren’t the norm here, but man is it hard! That aside, I was a mixture of confused and amused in managing these stark contrasts: just as quickly as I was able to muster up some intensely malicious motives for the bad guy, my six-year-old boss ladies had me switching hats to bring on the gentleness and goodness required of me for the rescue. Read more

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Disney’s Coco: A Parable

Coco and Chesterton quote

 

Disney’s Coco offers us a parable for Jesus’s most challenging words in all the Bible. Set in the vibrant town of Santa Cecilia, Mexico during its annual Day of the Dead rituals, a young Miguel wrestles with his family heritage that stands in direct opposition to the ache burning in his soul to pursue becoming a musician.

 

Miguel’s story begins like the plot arcs of so many other Disney characters—Merida in Brave, Rapunzel in Tangled, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Moana in the movie with her namesake, and more recently, Luca in Luca. Essentially, the main character comes of age by acknowledging their own Read more

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