Buckblog: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

12 December 2005 — 1-minute read

My wife and I found a babysitter this afternoon and went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I’ve been especially curious about the film after reading afew scathing reviews lambasting it for its “religious themes”.

Well, I absolutely loved the movie. I haven’t been so moved by a film in a long time. The acting was superb, the scenery was beautiful, and the special effects were great. The religious themes are certainly there, if you look for them (but they’re in Lord of the Rings, too, if you look for them, and no one ever condemned that film for it).

I never see a film twice in the theater, but I would definitely make an exception for this one.

Reader Comments

Really? I found it overly dramatized, or as I told my brother: too many attempts at emoting moments. It seems like every 10 minutes the movie was trying to pull an emotional response from the audiance but failing. How many time can one take a long shot of smiling little girl? Too much fluff and not enough substance. A good rendition would have been able to make me cry for Azlan --and I admit its easy to make me cry. So no, I can't say I loved it. Nonetheless the Queen was pretty cold and the special f/x were great.

t5
12 Dec 2005

Interesting that you should mention the Lord of the Rings, since Tolkein and CS Lewis (author of the Narnia books) were good friends: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inklings

chrs
13 Dec 2005

Hear, hear! Now read the books. (All of them; they won't take long.) If people are going to be lambasting the series for having religious themes I wonder why they don't get so uptight about its strong Platonist themes? IMHO those are more offensive to our "modern sensibilities".

Phil
13 Dec 2005

Phil, the books are great, too--I've read them all at least twice. I'm hoping this movie does well enough that they'll do more of the books. They stayed true enough to the first book that I have high hopes for the rest.

Jamis
13 Dec 2005

I was actually worried that they would try to completely eviscerate the movie, excising all religious symbols from it. The books are, after all, Christian parables. Take all the Christianity away from them and there's not much left. That is what makes them great, and I don't believe one must be a Christian in order to appreciate them. Some of the reviews I read praised the fact that the director toned down the religious themes. I wish he would have just stayed as close to the original stories as possible. Glad to hear that you liked it. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Carl Youngblood
13 Dec 2005

By the way, a good analogy for what I'm trying to say is the movie Fiddler on the Roof. Many of the people who love the movie are not Jewish at all. In fact, if you took out the "Jewishness" from the movie, it would be pointless. Frequently trying not to offend any audience ends up not pleasing anyone either.

Carl Youngblood
13 Dec 2005

I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that all the books will be made into movies. I heard a radio interview with the producer (I think) and he talked about how in his initial meeting with the CS Lewis estate, they (the estate) started by saying that no movie deal would be made that day. They walked out of the meeting with a deal for all 7 books.

Chris J
23 Dec 2005

The Buckblog

assorted ramblings by Jamis Buck

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Reader Comments