The critics are raving about Jonah, the new Veggie Tale movie. The critics I am referring to are Calvin (6), Nevin (almost 5) and Evangeline (3). We went to see the vegetable flick yesterday, the day after it opened. The last movie Mark and I saw on opening weekend was The X Files in June of 1998.

We planned to attend the 3 pm show. We arrived at the theater at about 2:50, and we saw several children crying and clinging to parents as they headed into the parking lot. As it turns out, the 3:00 show was sold out. Adults are disappointed when a movie they were planning to see is sold out, but pre-school children are not equipped to deal with such information. All they can do is cry to show their utter unhappiness about the situation. Our 3 handled it ok, but it was only after understanding that we would go to the 5:00 pm show.

When we did actually watch the movie, the place was packed. I suspect it was sold out again. I’ll be interested to hear how it comes out on the box office stats for the weekend.

Jonah was fun for old veggie fans who are familiar with “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything,” as they are the crew of the ship Jonah takes to Ninevah as well as the narrators of the tale. I won’t say it is better than the home videos, but it was nice to go to a movie theater with many families with small children and not have to worry at all about the film’s content. The only thing that might scare some small children is the big fish coming up out of the water. There’s also the matter of the pumpkin inards splashing Jonah (played by the remarkably talented Archibold Asparagus). This might be a bit disturbing to some. The music was excellent, as one might expect. And, the caterpillar character, Carlyle (sp?), was a great addition to the cast of vegetable favorites. Overall, it was an enjoyable family movie and an encouragement to see a Christian movie get so much attention.

If you want to read a great article about the brains behind Veggie Tales, see Christianity Today.

P.S. I just saw this article at CT’s website about layoffs at BigIdea (company that produces Veggie Tales). The tone of employees quoted is certainly different than those quoted in the earlier article. I hope Jonah does well enough to pull the company out of debt.