Saturday, April 22, 2006

I'm a Little Late, but

But I just saw Chronicles of Narnia. Oh, how I wish I had seen this movie in the theater. It was amazing on my TV; I can only imagine how majestic it must have been on the big screen.

Based on C.S. Lewis’s novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, this movie is a breathtaking adaptation of the world Lewis created. Special effects, make up, and set design has come so far that it’s easy to get completely swept away in this movie. From the beginning when they’ve recreated the pain of children being sent into the country to keep them safe from the horrors of war to the snow and cold of the White Witch’s world, it’s completely believable.

The performances are really quite impressive. All the kids are good, but Georgie Henley as Lucy is outstanding. She’s wise beyond her years and has a maturity you don’t often see in movies, even by actresses much older than she. Her scenes with James McAvoy, who plays Tumnus the Fawn are subtle and sweet. Then there is Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, who is just chilling, no pun intended. Director Andrew Adamson really did an amazing job balancing these performances with such amazing effects, so that neither one is overwhelmed or underwhelmed by the other.

I think one of the reasons I, in the end, didn’t see this movie in the theater was because every time I heard something about it, there was always a focus on it’s Christian values and overtones. I felt that I was being told that I have to see all that, or I wouldn’t appropriately appreciate it. But CS Lewis said he didn’t write the books as an analogy of Christianity (at least I think he said that). Yes, you could make that argument, and the sacrifice is a classic Christian analogy. Maybe I’m just not a good enough Christian, but I didn’t see anything else besides that. Not that I was looking because I was too lost in this gorgeous movie.

So, if you haven’t seen it, see it. It’s great film-making.

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