Customer Reviews

Chronicling Narnia

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Chronicling Narnia tells of CS Lewis' inspiration for creating the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as well as the rest of the Narnia series. This was released prior to the movie being released in theaters.

Narrated by Chris King, the documentary is interspersed with interviews from three people who knew C.S. Lewis (two attended his lectures), live action sequences features kids who play the Pevensie chlidren, as well as CGI animation related to the story.

There is an extra section with biographies of the three people interviewed, an interactive map exploring the world of Narnia, a "walkthrough" of the places in Narnia, as well as an interview with a critic of Empire film magazine.

Overall, it's a good documentary. The only thing that could have been done better was sound editing. At times, it was hard to understand what Chris King (the narrator) was saying because the background noise (like gunfire and street noise) was simply too loud.

Breifly, the aniimations and illustrations were dissappointing, the interviews were boring, and there was very little insight into the "meaning" of the rich symbolism in the Narnia stories. The opinions of the speaker were projected so strongly onto Lewis's work that there was no room for anything else. I did't even finish watching the DVD; even the special features were poorly done.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

With the movie release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" on December 9th, based upon the Christian classics by the late Christian scholar and literary genius C.S. Lewis, the world will see one of the most fascinating stories made into film. What the average movie goer won't know is WHY Lewis wrote the original book: (1) to describe what God was like (via the character of Aslan, who is a picture of the "Lion of Judah" [Revelation 5:5] or Jesus Christ] and (2) to convey in illustrative form of the salvation story of Jesus--that Jesus Christ (Aslan) was willing to die in our place because we (like Edmund) were in bondage to sin (Turkish Delight) and evil (White Witch).

Initiated by a dream that Lewis had at 16 years old, The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe built the cornerstone of a seven-book fantasy that has sold 90 million copies over 55 years, establishing itself as one of the most beloved works of Christian fiction of all time. This initial volume follows the journey of the four Pevensie siblings--Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter. Set in World War II England, the children enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of 'hide-and-seek' in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis.

Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch's powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle, with its central figure, Aslan, the victorious lion who represents Christ--the Lion of Judah, who dies and resurrects just as in the Gospels. Moreover, Aslan, like Christ, voluntarily steps in to take the punishment due to one of the 'sons of Adam'. The children, like the Disciples, are initially grief stricken by Aslan's death but then overjoyed by his return, and then join him to fight against the White Witch and her evil allies. (Of course, there are many other links between the book and the Christian faith.)

A GREAT MOVIE THAT IS TRUE TO ITS ORIGINAL BOOK-AND "THE BOOK"

Well, Walden Media and Walt Disney Studios have now turned this novel of the Christian Gospel into a $150 million movie that will reintroduce "The Chronicles of Narnia" to a whole new generation of children and their parents in a "Lord-of-the-Ring" type movie format. And this initial Narnian theatrical adventure is expected to be followed in coming years with the following six-volumes being made into movies. (You can see an actual theatrical trailer of this first movie and see more about the making of the movie by going to http://www.narniaresources.com.

I must admit I was skeptical at first to have Disney partnering with Walden in making this movie; it is not like they are known for being a bastion of conservative Christianity! As Christianity Magazine (Oct 2005) conveyed,

The film has been made by Walden Films, which has a good track record of creating family-friendly movies. The decision by Disney to partner with Walden and distribute this film was initially not welcomed by Christian culture watchers in the US who warned that Disney might want to water down the Christian symbolism. Disney have always denied this intent and [so included] the input of Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis, who is a co-producer [and] has helped reassure wary Christians. "I am a committed Christian and I am very happy with the script," Gresham confirmed."

Gresham, serving as co-producer, became the spiritual watchdog and conscience of the movie project, assuring that the movie version kept true and accurate to his stepfather's originals.

As a Christian and Pastor, my concerns were further quenched when other national Christian leaders affirmed the value of the movie. "We believe that God will speak the gospel of Jesus Christ through this film,' said Lon Allison, director of the Billy Graham Centre at Wheaton College in Illinois. Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, also said that the film was an ideal way for a Christian message to be brought to people who would not otherwise go near a church. "Here is yet another tool that many may find to be effective in communicating the message of Jesus to those who may not respond to other presentations," he said.

MY PERSONAL RESPONSE TO THE MOVIE...WOW!

Having personally seen the movie, I can tell you it is nothing short of almost EVERYTHING C.S. Lewis intended it to convey. I cannot encouage you enough to see this movie, then read one of the many books that explain how God and Jesus are explained via The Chronicles of Narnia (like "Knowing Aslan" or many other books one can get from Amazon.com). As a result, at our own Christmas Eve Services (where I pastor at Lake Almanor Community Church in northern California), I will be using the movie to help me answer the question, "What If There Were No Christmas?" Before Aslan comes, Narnia is in perpetual winter without hope. Before Christ came, our world was lost in sin and without hope. In addition to our sanctuary's normal Christmas décor, the stage will be flocked with snow to represent a winter landscape, like Narnia, with a lamppost and a wardrobe, out of which people exit into the winter pines! As of Sunday, January 9th, I will also begin a Sunday Series through the Gospels, studying the life and nature of Jesus Christ. It will be titled, "In The Lair Of The Lion Of Judah," and will take us through a chronological gallop of the Gospels. One can obtain the CD's of those messages or read more about Narnia at our Church web site: lacconline.org)

FROM ATHEIST TO CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR: C.S. LEWIS' SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

One last thing to help you enjoy the movie. Remember that C.S. Lewis' (author of The Chronicles of Narnia) spiritual journey traveled from the extremes of an avowed and antagonistic atheist to a devoted defender and scholar of the Christian faith. His Christian journey can be read in his book, "Suprised By Joy," and his rational defense of the Christian faith (which was originally given in a series of BBC radio programs during WW2) can be read in his book, "Mere Christianity."

IN 1916...

After Lewis's mother died of cancer when he was only eight years old (about 1908), his father sent him off to a boarding school. On October 12, 1916, Lewis penned his position in a letter to Arthur Greeves: "I think that I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best. All religions, i.e., all mythologies...are merely man's own invention-Christ as much as Loki. In every age the educated and thinking [people] have stood outside [religion]."

IN 1929...

Although an atheist until he was roughly 30 years of age, Lewis began investigating the claims of Christianity during the twenties. On December 21, 1929, Lewis-upon reading John Bunyan's Grace Abounding-wrote: "I...am still finding more and more the element of truth in the old beliefs [that] I feel I cannot dismiss... There must be something in it; only what?" In this pre-conversion period Lewis wrote: "I felt as if I were a man of snow at long last beginning to melt." As a result, in 1929 Lewis was converted to theism. He journaled of that experience: "I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed; perhaps, that night the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England," but this conversion "was only to Theism. I knew nothing about the Incarnation [or that Jesus was God in human flesh]."

IN 1931...

In 1931, influenced by his friend J.R.R. Tolkien ("Lord Of The Rings"), he became a Christian and a member of the Church of England. On September 28, 1931, at age thirty-two, Lewis was "riding to the Whipsnade zoo in the sidecar of Warren's motorcycle. `When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did.'" According to 1 John 5:1 and 5, all those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God are "born of God." To Arthur Greeves on October 1, 1931, Lewis wrote: "I have just passed from believing in God to definitely believing in Christ-in Christianity."

IN 1944...

Although he became an Anglican, he stated that he was influenced by his Roman Catholic friend Tolkien. He was very much interested in presenting a reasonable case for the truth of Christianity, which he did in a series of BBC radio broadcasts, which were developed into his work, "Mere CHristianity," in which he states the following: "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: `I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." [CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 3, The Shocking Alternative]

IN 1950..

It only took C.S. Lewis three months to write "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe," and he had only one critic, his close friend, JRR Tolkien, who hated it: "It really won't do," he protested. "Doesn't he know what he's talking about?" Yet the Chronicles went on to sell over 85 million copies over the last 50 years! (Perhaps the fact that he was still working on The Lord of the Rings after a decade while Lewis knocked off The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in less than three months had a little to do with it.)

As the BBC news reported, "Lewis's idea was not to write an allegory for clever readers to decode, where Aslan represents Christ. Rather, Aslan is Christ, coming to the world of talking animals as a lion, just as he came to earth as a human. Lewis found children better at understanding this than adults.

"He was not concerned with teaching children the Christian story in disguise, as he expected them to know it already. Rather he wanted them to feel it. As a child himself, he knew the story of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and knew it was meant to be important, but he had never felt its importance. If he could retell it in terms of a fairy story, it might make sense to children and they might grasp the nobility, tragedy and power of it."

LISTEN AND LOOK FOR THE SPIRITUAL STORY BEHIND THE ILLUSTRATIVE ADVENTURE OF NARNIA...

"But what does it all mean?" asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer. - "It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards." (ch. 15 of "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe")

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again. (ch. 8)

Bottom line, see the movie! Then read The Book ("The Bible").