May 24, 2008
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Should I see it?
Yes.
Yes.
Short Review: Lord of the Rings Lite.
There was great concern among Christians when it was announced this film was to being made that Hollywood would water down the Christian allegory in order to fit the entertainment industry's long accepted practice of secularizing all things. Since playing down the Christian elements would not only neuter the message of the story, but also massively change the narrative, there was a great deal of trepidation prior to the details of the production becoming public. This was a reasonable concern given Hollywood’s use of Christianity as a cultural diaper for the last forty years. After all, they even secularized Jesus with the release of of Godspell, you'll notice if you actually force yourself to get to the end that, just like the play, Christ is not resurrected. Here's a hint to everyone, no resurrection - no Christ - that's how it works. When Andrew Adamson (ironic name) was brought on the write/direct many people’s concerns doubled. Will the guy who created the children’s postmodern classic Shrek be able to have a discerning eye for this overtly Christian piece? The answer is thankfully yes.
Adamson’s background in animation comes in handy throughout this film as most of the characters are indeed animated. If you are not familiar with the story, four British children, trapped in a mansion come across a wardrobe, which leads to the strange land of Narnia. There they find that the animals talk and a great war is brewing between absolute good and absolute evil. This is a war, in which, they are destined to be the central figures. The part about talking animals is what has kept this film from being produced for the longest time. The technology has finally caught up to the story and all of the animation is spotless. The animation of Mr. And Mrs. Beaver to Aslan himself is fun to watch.
Despite this brilliant eye candy, the film still lacks a coherent signature design as one finds in Lord of The Rings or The Harry Potter series. Narnia is lessened by the fact that it makes its debut in the shadows of these comparable franchises. This is troubling since it is a solid story with a needed message. C. S. Lewis wasn’t the storyteller J. R. R. Tolkein was or J. K. Rowling is today. For this reason the movie seems to be a little off step. The story and movie are more geared directly to smaller children so the narrative and dialog lacks the intelligence of Tolkien’s grand work and lacks the whimsy of something like Harry Potter. Lewis’ story is a grim one but still manages to keep itself restrained enough to be open to the minds of children. This film follows this path. For the first three-fourths of the film the images and story are mild and simple. To adults it may be a little distracting how assumptive the narrative is at times. The war in Narnia and its participants are pushed bluntly and Adamson presumes we’ll take them at face value. We don’t get to know much of the characters outside of some cursory details. This makes the story go somewhat pale during the down moments when we have to spend time with these people.
What occurs in the final act however changes everything. The war sequences and the revealing of Aslan’s sacrifice to the triumphant conclusion are wonderfully handled. The simplicity of the narrative moves from being somewhat burdensome to being a fantastic tool as the movie lays out the complicated allegory of Aslan as Christ with great ease and conviction. The film manages this important piece strongly (although, I would have been more satisfied with a better production design.)
In the end, Adamson brings Lewis’ Christian allegory alive and more importantly has brought it to a massive audience. Looking beyond my petty concerns, this is a good film that brings to the medium a beautiful and important story. This is a good rendition of the greatest story ever told.
Related Reviews:
Epic movies
Ivan Groznyy I (Ivan the Terrible: Part One) (1944)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Other Critic's Reviews:
In Film Australia
Rolling Stone
Labels: Anna Popplewell, CS Lewis, film, Liam Neeson, movie review, Narnia, Tilda Swinton, William Moseley
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 9:44 AM
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2 Comments:
I don't quite understand what you mean by "Hollywood using Christianity as a cultural diaper", but it is annoying how Hollywood tiptoes around the subject and wrings its hands worrying about offending people.
Re: Godspell--it's simply a musical based on parables. The fact that they didn't make an extra number about the resurrection doesn't mean much. We all know what will happen, and we're left with the words repeated: "Long live God...long live God..." layered over "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" followed by "Day by day..Oh Dear Lord..Three things I pray..To see thee more clearly..Love thee more dearly..Follow thee more nearly". It's happening in the words--doesn't have to happen on the screen.
I couldn't disagree more about the ending of Godspell. The whole point of Christ is that he is risen. Removing this from the story is like having Star Wars end when Luke gets the Princess back and dropping that whole pesky blowing up the Death Star thing. Jesus is a man, merely an uppity Jew, until he is risen. Without it, there is no Christ, no Christians. The fact that Godspell drops this is incredibly offensive - not to mention just bad storytelling.
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