Kudos to Disney for playing "Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front" last Sunday!

This is the third film based on the popular toys and books from American Girl, a subsidiary of Mattel, and the first to premiere on the Disney Channel. This film was based on the American Girl character of Molly, a ten-year-old girl living in Jefferson, Illinois in 1943.

I say kudos because "Molly" is unapologetically pro-American and pro-World War II, something I didn’t expect to see broadcast by Disney, which has been anything but a conservative studio since the death of its founder.

Even better, there wasn’t a whiff of historical revisionism. Mothers stayed home with children, until the time came when they went to work in factories, where they did an outstanding job. No school prayer was shown, but children recited the Pledge of Allegiance before class, and a public school Christmas pageant was shown that included the nativity scene. People willingly if not always happily made sacrifices for the war effort, the reality of men and women dying was never shirked, yet there was a pervasive atmosphere in the film that its characters that America had only one goal in the war, an that was the total defeat and surrender of its enemies.

Perhaps the most poignant scene in the film, however, does not center on Molly but another girl named Emily, who comes from London to live with Molly’s family. Emily’s father is serving in the British military, and Emily’s mother was killed in a bombing. Earlier in the movie Molly’s family practices an air raid drill, and it is during this time that Molly’s father, a doctor, informs his three children that he has volunteered to serve in the war. Molly takes the news hard, frightened for her father’s safety. Soon after Emily comes to live with Molly’s family, an air raid siren goes off to signal another drill. Molly, her mother, brother and sister react as if the time has come to do an unpleasant chore, but Emily shudders and looks around, conditioned to expect the war to fall in on top of her whenever she hears this sound. This leads to a sobering wake-up call for Molly as she helps the terrified Emily through the drill. When the siren signals the all-clear, Molly tells Emily, "See. We’re all safe." Emily simply tells Molly, "We’re never safe."

"Molly" is more than good family entertainment. It is a good reminder about our recent history, and serves as an interesting parallel to the war we are living through today. Some sixty years ago, Americans were faced with a real threat to our country, and they responded with sacrifice and determination. They didn’t start the war, but they were going to finish, and most Americans didn’t care what anybody thought about it. Today, most Americans feel that same way, though it would be difficult to know that if you listened to the mainstream media and many politicians. How wonderful would it be if America 2006 were a little more like America 1943?

Kudos to Disney, kudos to American Girl, and kudos to everyone involved with creating this outstanding and refreshing film!