Saturdays are always a day kids look forward to: They get to wake up without an alarm, and we usually make a big breakfast, followed by a day of relaxing or heading to a fun event. This past Saturday, my kids knew that we were going to screen the upcoming movie, Leap!
Leap! is an animated story about two French orphans will have committed themselves to doing anything to make their dreams come true. One night, Felicie (voiced by Elle Fanning) and Victor (Nat Wolff) decided to take a chance on a new life and escape their orphanage caretaker (Mel Brooks) and journey to paris.
Whenever I leave a movie like this, I always ask my children, "what lessons did you get from the movie?" This one had a few good ones, which made me speak up while the movie was playing. I know my son grew tired of me as I kept whispering, "Did you hear that? Do you understand the lesson in that?"
Here's the trailer:
Here are three things your kids will walk away with after watching Leap:
1. If you never leap, you will never know what it's like to fly.
In this movie, the character had to take quite a few chances in order to make their dreams come true. You'll learn in life, that nothing we desire the most is always easy to get. Sometimes it takes walking outside of our comfort zone to actually go to our personal next level. You sometimes have to jump to show yourself you have it in you.
2. Why do you dance?
This was a question that was repeatedly asked of Felicie in the movie. Odette (Carly Rae Jepson) used to be a great dancer, but because of an accident now she cleaned the dance hall. She started to train Felicie and wanted to know why she did what she did. Do you want to "dance" because it's in your heart, or because it's what you were told you should do? When it's in your heart, you will go harder for it. It will also come through in your execution.
3. When you're tired is when you start to see progress.
During the movie, Felicie was given an opportunity to train but almost gave up when it became too hard for her. When you're tired is when you start to see progress — that's a power statement that's true in many areas of our lives. It's when we are at that point of stopping when we are about to grow or go to the next level. We have to press through the pain in order to see the fruit of our hard work sometimes.
It was a fun Saturday morning film and my children enjoyed it. They laughed through the movie, and even chose sides as some characters were not so nice. I am glad that both boys and girls can see themselves in the characters and walk away with some great life lessons. We all should Leap!
Bernetta Knighten is a lifestyle content creator at bernettastyle.com. She a married mom of three great children and resides in the Tampa Bay area. Follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
This article appears in Aug 24-31, 2017.