Narnia Delivers the Magic

So I went with about 100 other people from my church on Thursday night to a sneak peek premier of the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia."

First off, let me admit, I am a literary snob. One of my BIGGEST pet peeves, in the entire world, is when I mention a book, and someone says, "Oh, yeah, that's a good movie." I believe, as an artform, that movies are inferior to books. I also believe that books are more benficial to people, as evidenced by the fact that all my students have seen hundreds of movies, and they are still none-the-better for it. If they had spent that time reading, it's hard to imagine where they would be.

Let me also admit that it is rare that I enjoy a movie based off a book. Especially books I love. Which is what made the Lord of the Rings trilogy so good. It was a great movie experience that didn't diminish my love of the books at all. The same is true for Narnia. This is an excellant adaptation of Lewis' book. It is scripted well, it is paced well, it is acted well. It's a good movie. I don't know if it's the *best* movie I've seen this year, but the fact that I'm trying to remember which movies were better says something.

That being said, I'm amazed they didn't consult me before moving forward with the script. The directors made two fairly large errors in the movie. I detail them here. Don't worry, I don't spoil any parts of the plot.

Objection 1
The book has three places that are crucial, I believe, to the central message of the book. The first scene is one of my oft-quoted passages from Lewis. It's fantastic. The scene takes place with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and is the first time that Aslan, the King of Narnia is mentioned. It goes like this:

"Is -- is he a man?" asked Lucy.

"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion -- the Lion, the great Lion."

"Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he -- quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver, "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

There is just so much theology in this. And they cut it. They attempted to end the movie with it, but it fell very flat at the end. This line needed more prominence.

Objection 2
The other objection I had was the lack of violence toward Aslan as he was being led to his death. In the book, this scene is chilling. The dark creatures are terrified of Aslan and his power and what he represents. As Lewis puts it, "That giant paw could have been the end of all of them." So when they realize he isn't going to fight back, they move in, like a horde, and beat him mercilessly, kicking him as though they are doing something brave. Because the movie was PG, I think, they cut this. Which is a shame. You don't need to show blood, but I think you need to feel more pity for Aslan, especially if he is the Christ figure.

That being said, I'd like to move into the highlights.

Highlight 1
Mr. Tummus. The scenes in the book with Mr. Tummus are quite pedestrian, to me. I read them quickly to "get on with it." He's kind of a lame character, to me. But in the movie, they bring him to life in a way that I'd never seen before, bringing forth almost a Gollom-esque man, battling against himself to do what is right. Tummus was probably my favorite character.

Highlight 2
The Battle Scenes. Although PG, these were shot...er...animated to give you a sense of scope and some of the overhead shots were just cool. Nicely done.

Highlight 3
The Witch. I don't know who this actress was, but she was fantastic. Just like I imagined in the book.

Highlight 4
The reaction of the kids. I was sitting in a theatre with a whole bunch of kids, some of whom had read the books and memorized them, some of whom were seeing this story for the first time. When Aslan was being led to his death, there was a silence over them. I looked down and all these kids leaning into their parents. It was really quite moving. And then, when the Stone Table breaks and there is an earthquake, all the kids let out this *GASP*. And then when Aslan show up, and is resurrected they just spontaneosly burst into cheers and applause.

It almost made me cry. It was kind of like, at a gut instinct level, they were applauding at an awesome story where Aslan isn't really dead. Jesus isn't really dead! Isn't that awesome! He's not really dead!

It reminds me that children have much they can teach us big folk.