Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2005)

Since LWW brings us into the realm of fantasy (i.e., the land of Narnia, populated with talking horses and beavers, etc.), I thought I'd start with horses on Park Avenue in Manhattan....

Just as with the Harry Potter movie adaptations, people have been saying that LWW is very faithful (or perhaps "too faithful") to the original source material.

Me, I spot a lot of differences -- most of them appropriate to fill out the screen, but some changing the message in significant ways.

To those who think LWW can be enjoyed without awareness of the Christian allegory, I agree on one level (after all, I was entirely unaware of it the first time I read the book), but I wonder: What would someone who was entirely unfamiliar with the Christ story make of the fact that a big lion gets killed and then comes back to life, and this somehow saves the life of an undeserving boy and brings an end to a grim 100 years of winter? In a cultural vacuum, I'd think that particular plot development would seem a bizarre detour away from the narrative thread. LWW is by no means a perfect allegory, but it was clearly intended to soften kids up for the underlying concept behind Christianity.

(Speaking which, here are some Christmas carolers on the steps of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. We are renowned for our energy and enthusiasm, if not for our vocal range. The crowd favorite this year was "Frosty the Snowman.")

That said, LWW was really cute and a lot of fun. Some nice touches -- for instance, starting in London during the Blitz (where Edmund risks everyone's life in a mad dash back into the house to retrieve a picture of his dad ... a point which is echoed nicely when Edmund & Co. visit Mr. Tumnus's ransacked home, and Edmund's eyes are drawn to the portrait of Mr. Tumnus's father - on the floor, cracked).

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