I've now seen "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" twice and it's an incredibly awesome movie!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I sure hope all 7 books are made into movies! That'd be great! I actually reread the book 2 days before I saw the movie so it was very fresh on my mind. The movie is very true to the book and most importantly, it's true to C.S. Lewis' vision. There were some minor things that were changed. It seems like for the most part, not too many things were taken out. It was more things that were added in- like the visions Lucy sees in the fire at Mr. Tumnus' house and the flower girl she sees later on after Aslan has arisen from the dead. I did notice a subtle change when Father Christmas is handing out gifts- and it's good that I can even notice this kind of thing, because it shows how close they stayed to almost using the exact dialogue from the novel. Father Christmas tells Lucy he hopes she'll never have to use the dagger he gives her, though in the novel he also mentions that battles are a bloody thing and not for girls. Of course, I imagine this was a politically correct issue that was filtered out for the movie- but at least they did it tactfully, staying true to the novel.
But the main thing is just to see how beautifully Narnia and its inhabitants came together on the screen. Wow! Superb casting! They really perfectly nailed all 4 children- the White Witch was well cast and Liam Neeson makes a great Aslan voice! (especially when I keep thinking "Qui Gon-Jinn" when hearing Aslan talk!
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And there is such a strong Christian parallel that is as easily evident in the movie as it is in the book, of course, stemming from C.S. Lewis' Christian faith. He is by far, one of the greatest Christian minds of the last century and one of my heroes.
"The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" is the story of redemption offered to everyone by Jesus Christ! Aslan is a supposition of what would happen if Jesus had come to Narnia as a Lion. (that's how C.S. Lewis himself described it) And we see Aslan make the sacrifice to die in the place of the one who deserved to die-Edmund. The blood payment had to be made. ("Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 9:22) And Aslan defeated the White Witch forever by rising again from the dead- according to the ancient magic from beyond the dawn of time- ("....The Lamb who slain from the foundation of the world" Revelation 13:8)
The parallel to Jesus' death and resurrection is fairly obvious. I couldn't help but think of scenes from "The Passion of the Christ" when I was watching this movie. One of my particular favorite lines is when Jesus says, "Look Mother- I make all things new!"
And of course, as Aslan makes all things new in Narnia, Jesus did the same for all when He died and rose. The symbolism in this movie and book is great- it really helps convey the Gospel message in a format anyone can understand. In fact, this is how J.R.R. Tolkien explained Christianity to C.S. Lewis- he likened it to other myths that they enjoyed reading, but with the difference that it's the one true myth!
And by the way, here's another fun tidbit. "Aslan" is Turkish for lion, and Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah in Revelation 5:5
So anyway, I love this movie! Watch the movie! Read the book! Then read The Book (The Bible- literal Greek translation of "Biblios") and find all the parallels!
This definitely looks like it has the potential to be another great epic film series, like The Lord of the Rings (a great movie and book series as well, by the way)
"Aslan's not a tame lion- but He is good!"
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