Spiritually speaking, I’m wild about Harry Potter.

What’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone really about? If you think it’s witches, wizards, magic and special effects at Hogwarts, you’ve missed the train from platform nine and three-quarters. Outwardly, Harry Potter is about such reality-expanding ideas that are fun to pursue.

Inwardly, however, at the soul and heart level, the first Harry Potter book and movie are really about old-fashioned, time-honored love, friendship, loyalty and bravery.

Such values are also universally religiously acceptable, which is why protest from certain religious quarters about the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling and now the Harry Potter movie, directed by Chris Columbus, are so ridiculous. True, the objections mainly have centered around the issues of magic, witchcraft and wizardry, but even these topics in stories throughout the world’s literary traditions have always taught archetypal lessons about good and evil and the values of love, friendship, loyalty and bravery in combating the obstacles or “evils” of life.

So let’s hear it for Harry Potter and those responsible for making such a faithful adaptation of the first installment in the hugely popular series — the core messages of love, friendship, loyalty and bravery come through loud and clear, echoing through the fabled, ghost- filled halls of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Love actually surfaces as the dominant theme or message of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The story’s hero, young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), has been raised in a Muggle (a human who isn’t a wizard or witch) household, but he finds out he’s actually a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts. Not only is Harry a wizard, but he’s a famous wizard, having escaped death by the evil Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents.

Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster (Richard Harris), tells Harry that his mother sacrificed herself to save him. Such “sacrifice leaves a mark that lives in your very skin,” Dumbledore says.

What is that mark? “Love, Harry,” Dumbledore states.

Love that sacrifices for the good of another reflects the unconditional love that is Spirit.

Harry forms a close bond with two other students, Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint). Theirs is a friendship that also contains love capable of sacrifices, as we see when the threesome attempt to solve the mystery of the sorcerer’s stone. The depth of Ron’s friendship especially is tested, and his decision certainly represents the epitome of true, selfless friendship.

In one activity and adventure after another, from playing Quidditch to fighting a troll, Harry, Hermione and Ron help and support each other. They learn to respect each other’s strengths and to offer praise and encouragement to keep each other going.

As friends, they are also loyal to each other, to their principles, to the good of the school, and to justice.

Although Hermione is noted as a top student, she tells Harry that the truly important things in life are “friendship and bravery.”

Bravery is another major theme of the story, and it is seen most clearly in the actions of the three friends as they help each other and fight against evil-doers. Harry’s “pure nerve and outstanding courage” is officially recognized by Dumbledore. The sacrifice of Harry’s mother also shows bravery.

Interestingly, Dumbledore also singles out another student, Neville, for bravery of a different type. Of Neville’s actions for what he believes is right, the headmaster says, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.”

Other instructive lessons found in the movie include:

• The importance of living and doing, not just dreaming or learning. The wise Dumbledore says, “It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.”

• The need to think for one’s self. About choosing his friends, Harry tells the untrustworthy Draco Malfoy, “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself.”

• The problems that arise from judging by appearances. People and conditions aren’t always what they seem, even (or perhaps particularly) in the magical world of Hogwarts.

Monsters, Inc. (2001, 86 minutes, G)
“Sully” Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman), a blue bear-like monster, makes a revolutionary discovery in this clever, most enjoyable computer-animated feature from Pixar.

He’s the leading fright of Monstropolis, where it is the job of the monsters to frighten human children for the purpose of capturing their screams. These screams are used to power the monster world.

There is trouble in the monster world, though, because a shortage of screams has occurred, and there may not be enough scream fuel for power. The predicament and a few monster villains keep Sully and his sidekick Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal), a large eyeball with personality, busy.

Though he can adapt a frightening monster persona when coming out of the closets of human children’s rooms, Sully is actually an old softie. His attachment and fondness to a human child, Boo (voiced by Mary Gibbs), leads him to that revolutionary discovery — one that will change the power system of Monstropolis and have far-reaching effects on its inhabitants.

Of course, the lesson here is that the power system of the human world and its inhabitants also could be changed and bettered if more people realize what Sully does:

“Laughter is ten thousand times more powerful than screams.”

Think about the implications of that idea and have a good laugh.

Amelie (2001, French, 121 minutes, R)
“She’ll change your life,” the movie posters proclaim, and that just may be true about the title character in Amelie.

In these modern times when so many people feel confused, fearful, frustrated, distrustful, unloved, and depressed, and don’t know which way to turn to help themselves reconnect with the true spirit of Love from which they seem isolated, Amelie points the way to salvation.

Her method out of perceived misery and into bliss here on Earth is actually very traditional, a tried-and-true formula recommended by spiritual teachers for centuries, from the Buddha and Jesus to the Dalai Lama and the minister of whatever denomination down the street: help and love others.

A vintage message but one delivered with marvelous exuberance and creativity in this film that has delighted Europe and is now doing the same in terror-weary America. Amelie is a modern fairy tale in the tradition of Babe and Chocolat, and as such is clearly meant not only to entertain but also to inspire (both of which it does royally).

If people would only take Amelie’s joy to heart, the planet would be a lot better off.

At the beginning of the story, Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is like many of us: She comes from a rather dysfunctional family and is introverted and shy and unsure how to connect with love. But then in the magical fashion of fate, Amelie discovers and returns a tin of childhood treasures to a man, and in that selfless action her life is transformed.

“Amelie suddenly has a strange feeling of absolute harmony” and is overcome with a surge of love for all humankind, viewers are told.

It’s crucial not to minimize or overlook what has happened to Amelie, what has brought about her feeling of harmony and love. Quite simply, the harmony and love come from her pure joy in doing good for another, of reaching out with a heart of unconditional love.

In fact, Amelie’s whole being is so opened up with the joy and compassion of helping and loving others that she literally runs throughout Paris doing good deeds. Those she helps include a lonely man and woman at the cafe where she works, her father, a neighbor who suffers from “glass-bone disease,” and a blind man to whom she rapidly describes the scenes around him. The expression on the blind man’s face as he looks up to the heavens after the encounter with Amelie visually captures the uplifting spiritual effect of our heroine’s new reason d’etre.

Along the way, Amelie fantasizes herself as the “Godmother of Outcasts” and as Zoro, liberating the needy. When situations call for it, Amelie even mischievously doles out punishment to help the unjust learn a thing or two. To a mean vegetable stand owner, she says, “You’ll never be a vegetable. Even artichokes have hearts.”

Reviewers have called Amelie a “feel-good movie,” and it does indeed make you feel good cheering on someone who so delights in helping and loving others.

Amelie is a welcomed movie for these times. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who co-wrote the script with Guillaume Laurant, said, “Sometimes it’s good to forget cynicism, sometimes it’s good to dream.”

Amelie’s world does have a dreamlike quality to it, owing much to Jeunet’s fast-paced direction and surprisingly whimsical touches, but let’s hope that such altruistic dreams will spill over into waking reality.

While fate certainly seems to have a role in Amelie’s destiny, Amelie’s own choices are crucial, especially in learning to take risks for herself and find her own true love.

Amelie is an immensely soul-satisfying film worthy of repeated viewings, partly to discover details missed while reading the subtitles but mainly to absorb Amelie’s infectious energy. May the multitudes savor and emulate Amelie’s do-goodness and love.

Raymond Teague is the author of Reel Spirit: A Guide to Movies That Inspire, Explore and Empower and the new young adult novel Shadow's Stand, both from Unity House. He is an Interfaith minister, an editor of spiritual publications, a popular New Thought speaker, an award-winning journalist, and a lifelong movie buff. His books are available at bookstores; on-line at amazon.com, bn.com, borders.com, and by phone at 1 (800) 669-0282. Copyright © 2001 Raymond Teague