The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone

My family checked this out due to being somewhat interested in Christian films, being, well, Christians and all. What we discovered was a movie that's only really for kids. If you don't have a young kid (like, 8-12 or so), there's really no point in watching it, except maybe for a light chuckle. The production values are generally good, but it's quite cheesy and extremely clichéd, with a villain named King Cobra, a stereotypical mentor character, having to look for the answer INSIDE yourself, etc. If you're too old for it, it might be a bit painful.

As for the Christianity, it does all right, I guess. It's not as overt as some, and it's certainly not that deep, but there were clearly some signs of it and the film is family-friendly and whatnot overall.

Turned this on for 'movie night' with my 4 and 6 year old. I was purposely avoiding yet another cartoon movie and found it on Netflix. After a slow intro, it grabbed their attention and held it throughout. I quickly noticed the Christian overtones which I appreciated, and the kids did too. At the end of the movie, the kids were asking to watch it again and I was very happy with my choice, as I enjoyed it as well. It is what it is - it's not Indiana Jones - but it's a great film for a very tough audience for whom moral AND entertaining movies are difficult to find. As an aside, the King Cobra character was scary enough but not too scary. There was a bit of violence but nothing extreme. I didn't notice any language or suggestive situations. I'm hoping for more movies like this in the future.

Oh well, sometimes I find pleasure in watching a childishly predictable movie as "The Lost Medallion", filled with unbelievable adventures. A film appropriate for a relaxing Sunday evening. You don't need to be focused constantly. You're not watching so intensely that you accidentally take a bite in your remote control instead of in your ready-made croque monsieur. And it's not such kind of movie that you'll jump up whenever there's a horrible creepy moment.

"The Lost Medallion" is an adventure film especially for the youthful viewers. They'll surely fall asleep with a big smile in the evening and dream about them being the boy who saves an entire island. You certainly shouldn't start paying attention to those immense impossibilities that are offered at any time as there are : finding a medallion in an immeasurable jungle with only a ridiculously small metal detector, a skinny teenage girl who defeats a huge thug with a bang on his ass, sabotaging boats without the gang sitting at a campfire noticing it and then paddling away and they start chasing although they could have easily waded through the water to get to the canoe. And trust me, those youngsters degenerate in true ninja-turtles in the end. It ends, of course, as an episode for some catholic TV-channel with God loving everything and everybody. If you can endure all that, then you'll enjoy a fun adventure film.

It's something similar to "Indiana Jones" but with children as heroes. Even the scene with the medal being pushed across the ground by the swirling crowd while Billy (Billy Unger) and Cobra (Mark Dacascos) trying to catch, resembled the scene where Indiana Jones was grabbing for his antidote. No groundbreaking film, no great acting performance and certainly no Oscar-nomination material. But I bet that many children will enjoy this adventure and they'll keep on enjoying it in their dreams.

I'll keep it for when the time comes that my two kids are old enough to appreciate it. Maybe their comment will be "Jesus dad, what a horrible movies. And you want us to watch this together with you?".

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"The Lost Medallion" is an Indiana Jones-type adventure film for the pre-teen set. It's a tale of a young archaeologist's son who finds a magic medallion that takes him and an orphan girl on a fantastical journey into the past. Or maybe the more apt reference would be to the "Narnia" films, since this one too features a none-too-subtle Christian subtext buried beneath the action-movie surface.

The movie is probably acceptable for its target audience (though I don't want to sell them short), since the violence is kept to a reasonable minimum (though it isn't nonexistent) and the story is filled with the requisite edifying moral messages one expects from works aimed at children. But adults will have a hard time overlooking the corny dialogue, cheesy line-readings, paper-tiger villains, goofball second bananas and lowbrow humor that permeate the film.

Some impressive visuals, though.

This film is basically a fantasy story, which is sort of awkward for a Christian Film. Contrary to what some people may think, Christian films generally portray things that can happen in real life, and not fantasy items like a magical medallion. But the makers of this film came up with a unique solution to this problem, it's set in a real life scenario of a man visiting an orphanage and telling the kids a story that's just pretend to teach them some lessons. The majority of the film consists of this story he tells. This is a great concept that I think more Christian film makers should try, it makes it possible for a fantasy story to work as a Christian film.

The movie is sort of unbalanced in a number of ways. Some parts are very exciting, while other parts are kind of boring- at least after seeing it a few times. It's hard to say what age group it's meant for. Some parts are rather violent and scary, while other parts are more like what you'd see in a cartoon- sometimes bad guys get knocked out by just a little punch, which is sort of pathetic. Some of the fighting is pretty well done, but not all. There are also a couple times in which it almost seems like some clips are missing- at one point they're on a chase in the forest, then suddenly they're in town.

Despite a few issues, overall it's a pretty good film, and a great concept. It's neat that the character who tells the story is played by Alex Kendrick. They couldn't have found a better person on earth to play this role. This was actually what got me interested in seeing it- his movies are beyond outstanding, and it's great that he's now starting to appear in other good films.