4 and a half stars (out of 5)

First of all, let me just say that the film is absolutely fabulous in pretty much every way! Also, the kids really loved it, particularly my daughter (who is just shy of six), and they weren’t at all afraid (well, they jumped when Maugrim first appeared, but so did I and everyone else in the theatre, haha — but that was it). Like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, I feel myself truly blessed to have seen such faithful adaptions of such beloved classics during my lifetime. (Fingers still crossed for Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lewis’ Space Trilogy…! But now I’m getting greedy…)

A few years ago, I corresponded a bit with Douglas Gresham — who is C.S. Lewis’ step-son, and credited as a co-producer of this film version. Gresham is decidedly non-denominational in his faith, while his Anglican step-father, Lewis, is often thought of as having “High Church tendencies.” (In overly-simplistic layman’s terms: some feel Lewis was about as close to Catholic as one can get without actually being Catholic.) I believe some of Gresham’s peculiar influences can be seen in the film version; and that he has made sure that the film has been made even more palatable to modern fundamentalist Protestant tastes than the book itself.

(I’d like to talk here a bit about some of the small ways that the film differed from the book — hopefully nothing I’m going to say would “spoil” the movie for you if you know the story already; but if you are worried about that, be warned with this SPOILER ALERT, stop reading, and come back and finish after you’ve seen it. And you should see it, this weekend! Are you still here? Go, go…!)

First, probably the most obvious evangelical addition is when the White Witch, before she strikes the sacrificial blow on Aslan, says, “Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor?…” A new line is inserted here, when she sneers, “So much for love.” It’s a small addition perhaps, but it seems to push it over the brink into the didactic, now… and is sure to please the Christian audience.

Secondly, some of the most interesting lines from the book have been removed:

    “Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?” asked the Witch.

    “Let us say I have forgotten it,” answered Aslan gravely. “Tell us of this Deep Magic.”

    “Tell you?” said the Witch, her voice growing suddenly shriller. “Tell you what is written on that very Table of Stone which stands beside us? Tell you what is written in letters as deep as a spear is long on the fire-stones of the Secret Hill? Tell you what is engraved on the sceptre of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea? You at least know the magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill.”

Instead, much of the talk of “deep magic” is removed — it just gets a brief mention, and Aslan growls, “Yes, yes, I was there when it was written,” to cut her off. I can’t help but feel that this has been removed — or at least greatly toned down — for fears that super-evangelical Protestants or ultra-conservative Catholics would see some sort of pagan or satanic conspiracy afoot… (it sounds a little too Harry Potter, doesn’t it!)

Thirdly, the Stone Table — although still called the Stone Table — is now more like a stage or slab on the ground. Perhaps it was a mere whim of the art department — but something inside me wonders if Gresham wanted to make sure it would not look anything like an altar, as Catholics would likely perceive the symbol. (This difference is especially evident when it is later shown split in a very non-slab-like way.)

Anyway, those who were concerned whether or not this Disney version of Lewis’ alegorical story would actually retain its Christian roots definitely need not worry — you might even say that in some ways at least, it is even more overtly Christian than the book.

Don’t take what I’ve said above to be any sort of criticism of the movie; those are pretty minor changes which don’t really affect the overall feel of the story. No, the movie is very faithful to the book, in my mind. And I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m griping about this film — it’s not my intent at all, because I really thought it was awesome! — but hey, it’s fun to nit-pick and play arm-chair director! That said, there were just two little problems that I had on the first viewing:

The first, and most major, is that director Andrew Adamson didn’t really do a great job of letting the viewer understand the power and majesty of Aslan before his death. Sure, he growls menacingly at the White Witch at one point, but otherwise you don’t really understand “what the big deal is” about this lion. In particular, in the book, when he is approaching the Stone Table, the evil minions cower before him (“even now?” Lucy wonders), and it takes them a while to become brave enough to get near him… but in the film, there is no such fear of Aslan, really… neither the holy or unholy kind. (I suppose this is perhaps just a failing of the director — it’s really his first major film, and so one can’t reasonably expect everything to be “perfect.”)

Secondly (and this ties in with the above really), they strangely dropped the part from the book where Aslan speaks to Peter about their battle plans, and he hints that Peter may end up leading the forces without him — this leads the children to worry that Aslan will abandon them — and this is the reason Susan and Lucy follow him to the Stone Table. In the movie, no reason is given for them following Aslan, and you’re kind of left scratching your head as to why Peter is suddenly in charge instead of the huge dual-wielding centaur. (It must have been a deliberate change, though — because they add that scene with the wood spirit bringing the news of Aslan’s death to Peter and Edmund, etc. I’d love to know what they were thinking…)

Anyway, neither of those things are deal-breakers, particularly to fans of the book who know the story. But enough about the differences and problems — here’s what I thought they got amazingly right:

The casting of the kids is fantastic — I haven’t a single complaint about any of their performances whatsoever. Everyone agrees that Lucy in particular really nailed it.

I liked the addition of the bombing scenes at the beginning… the story is really quite slow in the first half, and starting things off with a bit of action was a good idea methinks. Along with that, the the significance of their father going off to war added some welcome depth.

Mr. Tumnus — the actor does such a great job and is so instantly-likeable that you’ll quickly forget that you probably expected him to be older. They found a couple of little ways to get him into the story a bit more later on, too, which was greatly appreciated.

The White Witch’s wand… or is it a sword… or a dagger? Whatever it is, the artists thought of a fantastic way to stop it from looking like some silly fairy-wand…!

Admit it, you’d think having Santa Claus show up half way through the film would put a rusty axe into the back of your suspension of disbelief — and yet they managed to pull it off really tastefully; classically and without the modern fluff. Whew!

Aslan was really well animated. Loved Liam Neeson’s voice. Also loved Ray Winstone as Mr. Beaver (been a fan of his ever since he played Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood.)

The White Witch in battle was a sight to behold. She was definitely dangerous with her weapons, but without descending into some campy Xena Warrior Princess thing… it coulda easily happened, but didn’t.

The gryphons! The phoenix! Whoa! And that moment, just before the two armies clash, when the music and sound fades to absolute silence. Yesss!

Yes, it’s the Narnia film I’ve been waiting for ever since hearing it was being made in the wake of Lord of the Rings. I was not disappointed! Considering that the production company, the director, the special effects team, etc., were all not among the leading movers-and-shakers in Hollywood, it’s really quite an amazing achievement.

Comparisons will abound between this and the Lord of the Rings — or worse, between this and Harry Potter — and it’s really like comparing apples and oranges. Lewis’ tale is ultimately for children, and so it would be better to make comparisons between this and The Neverending Story, or The Dark Crystal, or The Labyrinth. It’s an unforgetable family film that today’s kids will grow up remembering fondly.
   I fell in love with the Chronicles of Narnia books when I was in Grade 8 — and later in life, I became a great fan of Lewis’ apologetic writings. Needless to say, I’ve been greatly anticipating this film for a while, and definitely wanted to be able to take my kids to see it. In preparation, we all read the book together this past month, and then watched the BBC television show together last weekend (which, though very low-budget, was quite faithful to the book, really).

First of all, let me just say that the film is absolutely fabulous in pretty much every way! Also, the kids really loved it, particularly my daughter (who is just shy of six), and they weren’t at all afraid (well, they jumped when Maugrim first appeared, but so did I and everyone else in the theatre, haha — but that was it). Like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, I feel myself truly blessed to have seen such faithful adaptions of such beloved classics during my lifetime. (Fingers still crossed for Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lewis’ Space Trilogy…! But now I’m getting greedy…)

A few years ago, I corresponded a bit with Douglas Gresham — who is C.S. Lewis’ step-son, and credited as a co-producer of this film version. Gresham is decidedly non-denominational in his faith, while his Anglican step-father, Lewis, is often thought of as having “High Church tendencies.” (In overly-simplistic layman’s terms: some feel Lewis was about as close to Catholic as one can get without actually being Catholic.) I believe some of Gresham’s peculiar influences can be seen in the film version; and that he has made sure that the film has been made even more palatable to modern fundamentalist Protestant tastes than the book itself.

(I’d like to talk here a bit about some of the small ways that the film differed from the book — hopefully nothing I’m going to say would “spoil” the movie for you if you know the story already; but if you are worried about that, be warned with this SPOILER ALERT, stop reading, and come back and finish after you’ve seen it. And you should see it, this weekend! Are you still here? Go, go…!)

First, probably the most obvious evangelical addition is when the White Witch, before she strikes the sacrificial blow on Aslan, says, “Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor?…” A new line is inserted here, when she sneers, “So much for love.” It’s a small addition perhaps, but it seems to push it over the brink into the didactic, now… and is sure to please the Christian audience.

Secondly, some of the most interesting lines from the book have been removed:

“Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?” asked the Witch.

“Let us say I have forgotten it,” answered Aslan gravely. “Tell us of this Deep Magic.”

“Tell you?” said the Witch, her voice growing suddenly shriller. “Tell you what is written on that very Table of Stone which stands beside us? Tell you what is written in letters as deep as a spear is long on the fire-stones of the Secret Hill? Tell you what is engraved on the sceptre of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea? You at least know the magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill.”

Instead, much of the talk of “deep magic” is removed — it just gets a brief mention, and Aslan growls, “Yes, yes, I was there when it was written,” to cut her off. I can’t help but feel that this has been removed — or at least greatly toned down — for fears that super-evangelical Protestants or ultra-conservative Catholics would see some sort of pagan or satanic conspiracy afoot… (it sounds a little too Harry Potter, doesn’t it!)

Thirdly, the Stone Table — although still called the Stone Table — is now more like a stage or slab on the ground. Perhaps it was a mere whim of the art department — but something inside me wonders if Gresham wanted to make sure it would not look anything like an altar, as Catholics would likely perceive the symbol. (This difference is especially evident when it is later shown split in a very non-slab-like way.)

Anyway, those who were concerned whether or not this Disney version of Lewis’ alegorical story would actually retain its Christian roots definitely need not worry — you might even say that in some ways at least, it is even more overtly Christian than the book.

Don’t take what I’ve said above to be any sort of criticism of the movie; those are pretty minor changes which don’t really affect the overall feel of the story. No, the movie is very faithful to the book, in my mind. And I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m griping about this film — it’s not my intent at all, because I really thought it was awesome! — but hey, it’s fun to nit-pick and play arm-chair director! That said, there were just two little problems that I had on the first viewing:

The first, and most major, is that director Andrew Adamson didn’t really do a great job of letting the viewer understand the power and majesty of Aslan before his death. Sure, he growls menacingly at the White Witch at one point, but otherwise you don’t really understand “what the big deal is” about this lion. In particular, in the book, when he is approaching the Stone Table, the evil minions cower before him (“even now?” Lucy wonders), and it takes them a while to become brave enough to get near him… but in the film, there is no such fear of Aslan, really… neither the holy or unholy kind. (I suppose this is perhaps just a failing of the director — it’s really his first major film, and so one can’t reasonably expect everything to be “perfect.”)

Secondly (and this ties in with the above really), they strangely dropped the part from the book where Aslan speaks to Peter about their battle plans, and he hints that Peter may end up leading the forces without him — this leads the children to worry that Aslan will abandon them — and this is the reason Susan and Lucy follow him to the Stone Table. In the movie, no reason is given for them following Aslan, and you’re kind of left scratching your head as to why Peter is suddenly in charge instead of the huge dual-wielding centaur. (It must have been a deliberate change, though — because they add that scene with the wood spirit bringing the news of Aslan’s death to Peter and Edmund, etc. I’d love to know what they were thinking…)

Anyway, neither of those things are deal-breakers, particularly to fans of the book who know the story. But enough about the differences and problems — here’s what I thought they got amazingly right:

The casting of the kids is fantastic — I haven’t a single complaint about any of their performances whatsoever. Everyone agrees that Lucy in particular really nailed it.

I liked the addition of the bombing scenes at the beginning… the story is really quite slow in the first half, and starting things off with a bit of action was a good idea methinks. Along with that, the the significance of their father going off to war added some welcome depth.

Mr. Tumnus — the actor does such a great job and is so instantly-likeable that you’ll quickly forget that you probably expected him to be older. They found a couple of little ways to get him into the story a bit more later on, too, which was greatly appreciated.

The White Witch’s wand… or is it a sword… or a dagger? Whatever it is, the artists thought of a fantastic way to stop it from looking like some silly fairy-wand…!

Admit it, you’d think having Santa Claus show up half way through the film would put a rusty axe into the back of your suspension of disbelief — and yet they managed to pull it off really tastefully; classically and without the modern fluff. Whew!

Aslan was really well animated. Loved Liam Neeson’s voice. Also loved Ray Winstone as Mr. Beaver (been a fan of his ever since he played Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood.)

The White Witch in battle was a sight to behold. She was definitely dangerous with her weapons, but without descending into some campy Xena Warrior Princess thing… it coulda easily happened, but didn’t.

The gryphons! The phoenix! Whoa! And that moment, just before the two armies clash, when the music and sound fades to absolute silence. Yesss!

Yes, it’s the Narnia film I’ve been waiting for ever since hearing it was being made in the wake of Lord of the Rings. I was not disappointed! Considering that the production company, the director, the special effects team, etc., were all not among the leading movers-and-shakers in Hollywood, it’s really quite an amazing achievement.

Comparisons will abound between this and the Lord of the Rings — or worse, between this and Harry Potter — and it’s really like comparing apples and oranges. Lewis’ tale is ultimately for children, and so it would be better to make comparisons between this and The Neverending Story, or The Dark Crystal, or The Labyrinth. It’s an unforgetable family film that today’s kids will grow up remembering fondly