I agree that personal experiences are not usually a good way of arguing the existence of God, and are not always even a great personal reason to believe in a particular God. Of course it does depend on the experience, as Jesus performed miracles so that people would believe in Him; but sometimes in our lives those events are not as blatant as walking on water, and sometimes (make that "all the time") people make errors in their interpretations of events. To me, they are great things that we can use to lift up God's name and give thanks, but stories like that tend not to hold water in a serious debate over hard evidence.

Well, the callbacks were kind of amplified in my theater because I went to the midnight premier (worst way to watch a movie you care about). So maybe those moments aren't as bad without tens of Tolkien fans cheering and screaming. I've been meaning to see it again, properly, but I haven't gotten around to it.

The intriguing (and funny) thing about it is that these people have no sense of morality or integrity, and will do whatever it takes to get out of a bind, no matter how immoral it is. They even get the little kids in on their schemes, and more often than not, they get away with it. Shamelessly.

I'll have to check out the UK version, thanks.

An easy way to introduce little ones to great movie franchises is through the LEGO video games. I know a second grader whose favorite movies are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm not sure if he's even seen all of the movies, but he loves the games. Sow the seed!