The Chronicles of a Movie Experience

I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last nite, and thought it was very well made and pretty faithful to the book, though I must admit I had read it years and years ago. The 9:45pm showing last nite wasn't packed, but it was a decent sized crowd. The crowd was a mix of teenagers out for a good time and some older folks looking for a good flick. This movie fit the bill.

It's a roller coaster ride, and I'll do my best not to give away any spoilers. There are religious themes throughout, but some are universal, while others are particular to Christianity. Good and evil is pervasive - and you quickly learn who's good and who's evil. There are a few folks who are undecided, but quickly realize the error of their ways.

There's also quite a few similarities with Lord of the Rings, and that can be expected. CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were contemporaries and conversed quite a bit. Some of the themes follow in both - a long struggle with redemption at the end, good versus evil, and well developed characters all around.

Those are themes that resonate with people, regardless of their religious persuasions. Good versus evil is a timeless story, and it doesn't matter how many times you revisit the story, you always hope that good wins, while evil will try anything and everything to succeed. Good always has shortcomings - those who lack the perserverence or will to fight. Those who question the motivations of others.

And these are failings that we see today - in our leaders.

As for the visuals - they were truly astounding and you couldn't quite figure out how they did it - movie magic at its best. That's to be expected as the movie called upon the three best CG studios to work on the film - ILM (Star Wars), Weta (LOTR), and Rhythm and Hues (LOTR).

Expect sequels to be made of this movie - as they is quite a bit of material from the other books in the series that have big-screen potential.

UPDATE:
Others blogging the movie: Technorati search for Narnia. SoCalPunditposted his review - and it's quite positive. In fact, most reviews and bloggings have been thoroughly positive. LaShawn Barber has a take on the Christian aspects of the movie. PopPolitics slams the movie - but then again, everyone's a critic.

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