Top 10 Movies to Watch on Valentine’s Day

By Leigh Hewett

This Valentine’s Day, cozy up with stories that celebrate love in all its Godly forms. From the quiet, enduring beauty of a lifelong marriage in UP to the fiery romance of PRIDE AND PREDJUDICE or the sweet, unlikely love between two robots in WALL-E, this handpicked list of movies is full of warmth and charm.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Quality:

****

Content:

+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)

PRIDE & PREJUDICE is another wonderful version of Jane Austen’s beloved novel about the romantic conflict between a young woman and a rich nobleman in England around the turn of the 19th Century. PRIDE & PREJUDICE is a magnificently accomplished, thoroughly engaging entertainment that strongly extols Christian virtues such as love, charity and forgiveness.

LITTLE WOMEN

Quality:

****

Content:

+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)

LITTLE WOMEN is Louisa May Alcott’s classic story of four sisters in Civil War era New England. While the strong religious themes in Alcott’s book are toned down, the movie does contain positive Christian characters & actions, strong parental figures, chaste courtships, and especially winning performances by Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst and Claire Danes.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Quality:

****

Content:

+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.

After two hundred years, Jane Austen has become one of the popular screenwriters in Hollywood. Her latest adaptation, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, showcases the Dashwood women as they are driven out of their home and seek true love. Though flamboyantly acted, it shows marvelous restraint, respects the church and faith and elevates good sense over the vagaries of unrestrained passion.

UP

Quality:

****

Content:

+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)

UP, the new animated feature from Pixar and Disney, is about a 78-year-old widower and a young boy scout who find the adventure of a lifetime on a jungle plateau in Venezuela full of unknown dangers. UP is another heartfelt, family-friendly, utterly delightful animated classic from the wonderful team at Pixar and Disney.

FIREPROOF

Quality:

****

Content:

+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.

FIREPROOF is an incredibly gripping, compelling, heartrending, transformational story about saving a marriage between a small-town fire chief and his working wife that is on the rocks. Impeccably plotted, it is a stirring presentation of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God’s amazing grace.

A WALK TO REMEMBER

Quality:

***

Content:

+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)

In A WALK TO REMEMBER, troubled teenaged boy, Landon, played by Shane West, finds his life is changed as he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, a Christian pastor’s daughter, played by pop star Mandy Moore. As described by Landon, both Jamie’s exemplary strength of character and her faith in him saved him because she was the only one who believed in him.

WALL-E

Quality:

****

Content:

+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.

WALL*E, the latest animated feature from Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures, is about a lonely, lovelorn robot who has the key to the future of the human race and earth. If you’ve been waiting for entertainment that would lift you up, carry you to the outer reaches of imagination, inspire you, fill you with love, joy and happiness, and leave you with a great fantastic crescendo, you might want to see WALL*E.

CINDERELLA (2021)

Quality:

****

Content:

-2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

The new CINDERELLA (2021) movie streaming on Amazon Prime is a modern re-telling of the fairy tale where Cinderella falls for the Prince but doesn’t want to get married and forego her dreams of becoming a famous dressmaker. CINDERELLA is engaging, funny and colorful, with some great singing and dancing and positive references to God in one song, but overall, it has a Romantic, Non-Christian, feminist worldview about marriage and duty that extols personal feelings rather than transcendent moral values.

RUNAWAY BRIDE

Quality:

***

Content:

+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)

RUNAWAY BRIDE, the re-teaming of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, is a triumph. Shockingly clean by Hollywood standards, there are only 2 mild obscenities and some off-color humor, but no nudity or sexual immorality. In a movie about a woman who keeps running the wrong way down the aisle, this movie resists the temptation to salt the scenes with sex and instead relies on the story to keep the audience hooked. The movie received a PG rating because there are a couple of slightly off-color jokes.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

Quality:

***

Content:

-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is a big fat independent movie that’s a celebration of one American woman’s ethnic heritage, including the remnants of her family’s Greek Orthodox Christian faith. The nominal Christian worldview in this movie is spoiled by a brief, implied sexual interlude, passionate kissing, some foul language, and abundant use of alcohol.