Narnia Review and Other Thoughts

I saw TLTWATW Sunday night. I'm going to talk about it now. If you haven't seen the movie, don't read yet.



I loved it. It wasn't up there with LOTR but it was so well done and so true, not just to the story, but also to the spirit of the book. The sense of wonderment that you saw through the children, especially Lucy, about the place was palpable.

I loved so many little moments that just stuck out to me. For instance,

• Starting with the London Blitz. Gave a sense of danger in this world, especially contrasted with the danger in Narnia
  
• The carving on the Wardrobe telling the story of the Magician's Nephew
• Mr. Tumnus dropping the packages when he sees Lucy
• Peter discovering that Beaver could talk
• The drink that the Witch created for Edmund dissolving back into snow when the dwarf threw it away
• The fact that Edmund's guilt was compounded when Mr. Tumnus and the Fox were turned into stone through his information
• Aslan's death was done right with a proper sense of horror and dread
  
• I loved the fact that Lucy tried to use her cordial on Aslan when he died. I never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense.
• I thought the battle at the end was well done. You got a real sense of strategy and what both sides were trying to accomplish.
• The Witch wearing Aslan's mane into battle
• When Edmund went to cut the Witch's wand, she dodged the first time. I thought that was nice misdirection by the director.
• I liked the end with the grownup children. I do wish they had spoken in the proper English as Lewis had them do.
• That little scene after the credits where Lucy tries to go back through the wardrobe, and Professor Kirke (Diggory) tells her that she can't. So poignant.
  

So, any disappointments? Yeah, a few.

• I thought the music was very unmemorable. Walking out of LOTR I could whistle the Rohan theme and the Hobbit song, and still can. Nothing about the music stuck with me.
• Aslan was not as well done as I would have liked. No problems with Liam Neeson as the voice. The computer graphics were ok, but I never got the sense of wildness that is always talked about. Now, in fairness, I don't think Lewis ever really did either. It's a good concept of Aslan not being tame, but the execution is tough

So I really liked and thought that it really fulfilled all of my expectations, but didn't exceed them like LOTR did.

So is it appropriate for a four year old? Not mine. Just for the battle and Aslan's death. The battle is very intense and there is a lot of death and wounding (no blood though). Aslan's death is also not bloody, but it is dark and the creatures there are extremely scary. I just don't think Kinsey's ready for it yet.
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In other news, I think the transmission in the van has gone out. I was on a trip with the Zoe Group on Saturday to Cookeville. I heard a clunk and the van dropped out of gear. I let it sit for a couple of minutes, then it started right up and ran fine the rest of the time. I thought it might be the oil, since I hadn't changed that in 8,000 miles (yes, I know it's stupid. I just get absent minded about stuff like that). Ran fine all the way home. Ran fine to work, on the way home yesterday, it started losing power and just running poorly. I got it to a garage and now I'm waiting to hear about it. I'm worried that it's going to be expensive if it's the transmission, because we REALLY don't have the money right now. And of course, it would happen the week of the Christmas concert at church.