“Too often the movie takes the place of the book,” Dwight Longenecker writes, “and when this happens there is a curious change of direction and affection. The dynamic of interaction is totally different when viewing a film as opposed to reading a book.”

He says fantasy is best when it isn’t as materialized as it is in film. When a movie locks our minds into the way a story looks, sounds, and feels as it moves, then we coast with it instead of imagining it ourselves. That dulls our imagination, which is something we need.

“The imagination is the tool not only of creativity, but of worship. It is through the imagination that we meditate and dream and contemplate and pray.”