Lake Neuron

Our church began a four-week series of family-friendly Wednesday night movies tonight with the Disney-Pixar “A Bug’s Life.” Our pastor starts the movie at 5:30, and then after a half hour or so we pause the movie and serve ourselves a light meal (sandwiches tonight, plus “ants on a log” — stuffed celery with raisins). Then we eat while watching the rest of the movie, and then the pastor has a very light, kid-friendly discussion of the movie’s theme or life lessons.

I was amazed, reading the closing credits, to see that Hayden Panettiere, the indestructable cheerleader from “Heroes,” was the voice of little Dot! I wonder how old she was at the time.

Our attendance was disappointing; maybe it will pick up next week. Then again, next week’s movie is one that boys would think of as a girls’ movie: “The Princess Diaries.”

Dr. Doyle said choosing the movies has been challenging; because it’s in the church, he has a zero-tolerance policy for profanity and other offensive matter, and looks potential movies up on a Christian web site to make sure they comply. He said it’s amazing how many family-friendly movies have a bad word or coarse joke thrown in there somewhere — movies that you might have no real problem showing to your kids at home but which don’t quite meet the zero-tolerance rule.

Dr. Doyle said he’s looking for a live action boys’ movie to show week after next to balance out “The Princess Diaries.” The last week of the month, we will return to Pixar country with “Monsters, Inc.”

I bought “The Princess Diaries” for one of my nieces for her birthday a few years ago, and therefore felt compelled to sit down and watch it with the family that night. It was actually quite entertaining. Hector Elizondo, who is in every single Garry Marshall-directed film, is quite funny as the chauffeur.