Movie Reviews
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Rated PG for battle sequences and frightening moments.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
The wardrobe door has finally opened, and there’s Deep Magic spilling out in movie theaters around the world. In spite of fears and controversy about the much-loved stories of Narnia, the telling is timeless, classic, and satisfying, in spite of a few tweaks to Prof. Lewis’s text.
The Story
I’m excited for those who have never visited Narnia before, though I hope they get a chance to discover it in the pages of the short first book in the series before seeing the film. Either way, I’m a little jealous of those experiencing it for the first time.
We meet the four Pevensie siblings as their mom loads them on a train out of London at the height of World War II, away from the nightly German bombings of the city. Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy soon find themselves lonely, bored, and squabbling at the estate of an old professor. A game of hide and seek draws young Lucy into a wardrobe in an otherwise empty room. Inside, she finds fur coats and then a snowy forest and then a faun (half man, half goat) named Tumnus.
Although the others don’t believe the story when she returns, all four eventually find their way into the magical land of talking animals and endless winter and an escalating war between the forces of an evil White Witch and those of a powerful lion named Aslan. Resentful and selfish, Edmond winds up in the clutches of the Witch. To save him, the other three allow themselves to be drawn into the conflict. A pair of friendly beavers explain that the four are the long await fulfillment of a prophesy about two “sons of Adam” and two “daughters of Eve” who would one day come to reign in Narnia and help in breaking the power of the Witch.
When Aslan arrives, they must decide whether to stay and battle for Narnia with Aslan, the true king, or return back through the wardrobe door to their safer lives in England.
The Verdict (What we thought of the movie on its own)
When I first heard they were making a major adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” for the big screen, I felt skeptical. Along with half the world, I loved the Narnia books as a kid and rediscovered and loved them again a few years ago. The stories are deceptively simple and enjoyable as straightforward fantasy, but C. S. Lewis built into them a treasure of wisdom and meaning and depth waiting to be discovered on repeated readings. Could a movie do them justice?
The answer is both a resounding “yes” and a bit of a “no.” The perfectly named director Andrew Adamson succeeds wildly in bringing the wonder of Narnia to life through the eyes of his pitch-perfect cast of siblings. After seeing the film, I can’t imagine any other actors playing the foursome in which each of us can find someone to identify. Along with them, we marvel at the talking creatures, wonder at the arrival of father Christmas and the long awaited springtime, and bow in reverence to the great lion Aslan (who, as voiced by Liam Neeson, fills the screen with his presence and authority).
In fact, all the CG animation works, creating a pair of chatty, bickering beavers, half the faun Tumnus, and a host of other animals and fantasy characters. Created by the same digital magicians who brought the “Lord of the Rings” movies to life, the CG images, though not always seamless, lend Narnia an air of sparkling dreamscape.
This is a satisfying story well told. Building on the familiarity of sibling relationships and the dangers of growing up, Adamson and his team are able to draw us into the unfamiliar world of Narnia with little objection. It’s helpful to remember these stories were written, in part, for children. So there’s less complexity here than in the massive LOTR books and films written by Lewis’s friend J.R.R. Tolkien. The tone is also much lighter than in those films and the Harry Potter stories currently sharing space at the megaplex.
That’s not to say Narnia is a safe place. The film reflects the real danger found in Lewis’s story. Characters get turned to stone. Some die. The kids are threatened in battle by Tilda Swinton’s vacantly evil and icy White Witch. In fact, the movie ramps up those climactic battle scenes beyond what’s described in the novel to give the story even more menace. But the danger is tempered by the bright light of Aslan’s goodness and the wonder of Narnia. It’s still a land we’d all like to stumble into.
In all, the movie is wonderful, and I’m guessing it will become a holiday classic. For close fans of the book, though, there are some significant problems. In addition to missing scenes and “added footage,” the character of Aslan, though impressively rendered, isn’t given the full weight he demands in Lewis’s story. We never hear of his father, the Emperor-beyond-the-sea. And the lion strangely states that His destiny is beyond his own control, along with everyone else’s. Key bits of dialog from the novel go missing, bits that point mostly clearly to Aslan’s connection to Jesus. (More on that in the Worldview section.)
However bothersome those changes are, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is still worth enjoying. Even better, it just might drive a new generation of eager readers into the book and the six that follow it. Treasures still wait in those pages.
Worldview (How the film’s perspective compares with a biblical take on life)
Always hungry for controversy, the media coverage of the film has centered around a Christians-versus-secularists theme. Will the movie be “Christian enough” for evangelicals? Will it be “too Christian” for non-Christian Narnia-lovers? Will the Christian themes help or hurt at the box office? It seems unfair to paint the movie into that corner.
Lewis’s stepson has been insistent that the Narnia books and the movie aren’t “Christian,” but written for everyone. I can buy that. They can certainly be enjoyed on a surface level simply as wonderful fantasy stories. On the other hand, there’s no doubt that Lewis used the story of Jesus as a thinly veiled framework for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” In a letter sent to a young fan in 1961, Lewis stated clearly, “The whole Narnian story is about Christ. . . . Supposing there really was a world like Narnia . . . and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened? The stories are my answer. Since Narnia is a world of talking beasts, I thought he would become a talking beast there as he became a man here. I pictured him becoming a lion there because a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; b) Christ is called ‘the lion of Judah’ in the Bible.”
Even setting Lewis’s own words aside for a moment, it’s hard to miss the reflection of Jesus in Aslan’s sacrifice for Edmond. The White Witch claims her right to kill the boy as a betrayer of his family, a right given to her in the Deep Magic. Aslan offers himself, instead, to die in Edmond’s place. The movie takes some of the power out of that act of sacrifice by making Edmond less truly “bad” than he clearly is in the book. Still, it’s there. Aslan’s life for Edmond’s sin. Jesus’ life for Adam’s and that of his sons and daughters. (Check out Romans 5.)
For those willing to see and ponder it, the good news of Jesus is on louder display in Narnia than even in “The Passion of the Christ,” which explained little of the why behind what was happening to Jesus. But for those who’d rather just enjoy Narnia as a lovely fantasy, it exists for them, as well. Not finding the treasure won’t ruin the journey, but it might make it less joyful in the long run.
If you see the movie, questions you can discuss with friends, parents, or just think about yourself:
• Have your read “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”? How did the movie live up to the book? What worked and didn’t work for you?
• Which of the four children do you most relate to? Why?
• Have you read the rest of the Narnia books? What’s your favorite in the series?
• Do you think the movie can be enjoyed as “just a story” without the Christian themes? Why or why not?
• If you were Edmond, do you think Aslan would have taken your place on the Stone Table? What would that sacrifice mean to you? How is that like what Jesus did for all of us on the cross?
• Are you hoping to see the rest of the books made into films? Why or why not?
Copyright © 2005
