December 12, 2005

• “Lewis regarded Plato as a pagan whose insights prefigured Christian beliefs in some respects. In the Chronicles, Lewis explored pre-Christian paganism, the idea of a natural affinity with a biblical worldview, what he called the anima naturaliter Christiana. Certainly, Lewis’s success as a contemporary writer reveals that such faith can strike a deep chord around the world today. Much of this success came from his assuming a natural affinity between our ordinary humanity and Christian belief. Lewis wrote during an age of modernism, and he was a lifelong antimodernist. This led him to an imaginative defense of Christian faith that stands in the tradition of a spirituality that is increasingly attractive to contemporary readers. Lewis’s exploration of paganism depends upon a distinction between Christian and pagan spirituality. Christian spirituality has to struggle long and hard to be consistent with orthodox theology. This didactic element is usually integrated successfully into Lewis’s storytelling: many children read the Chronicles without being aware of their strong Christian themes.” Colin Duriez (A Field Guide to Narnia)

  
  

  

  
  

  Caught the much-anticipated Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I think it has kept faith with legions of Lewis fans who wonder what Hollywood will do with a classic long associated with its christian themes. The thing is to see it as a movie – without preconceived notions, and not to pick out allegorical connections. (In any case, Lewis himself admitted that he did not consciously set out to construct an allegorical world but an alternative one). On that score I thought LWW the movie succeeded admirably, breathing life into a slim volume (okay it’s one of 7, and it gets better along the way) that fellow Inkling J.R.R. Tolkien publicly pooh-poohed as flawed (Tolkien hated allegory).

  
  

  I must say the creative license that director Andrew Adamson took actually added to the experience, giving it an additional heft. The CGI is seamless, but that’s to be expected as nothing short of the LOTR benchmark will do. I got misty-eyed several times, but I do have a few issues with this otherwise wonderful screen translation:

  
  

  The battle scene was, sadly, lame - to quote a viewer in the back-row – and that’s not because I am making unfair comparisons with LOTR. Considering that the story is set in a world locked in a war nearing apocalyptic proportion, the battles lack the necessary intensity. The sense that a world hung in the balance ought to be grimmer in tone. I suppose the lack of blood and gore has to do with keeping the movie within its G rating more than a lack of imagination.

  
  

  Of course I also wonder if it would hurt to depict some kind of training for the Pevensie children. Their transformation from children to warriors would perhaps be more believable (although not in the book). I mean the director cheated with an offscreen knife throw by little Lucy which got the audience laughing – whether because it was increduluous or because Lucy did better than her sister’s Susan’s archery, I can’t say.

  
  

  And the music by Harry Gregson-Williams. It could have been so much better. Music gives wings to movies and LWW did not feature a memorable score (not least an infectious one) to lift it higher. Gregson-Williams is no novice and collaborated with Admason previously on Shrek, so what gives? Maybe I need to listen to it some more. Again, unfair perhaps, but listen to Howard Shore’s dramatic composition for LOTR or even John Williams Star Wars epics and you know what I mean.  So, yes, LWW was a great adventure and engrossing family fare. In spite of some of missteps, it nevertheless merits a 4 out of 5 stars.

  
  

  What can I say? See the movie. And of course, read the book.

  • 10:45 pm
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