I just wanted to bring the upcoming film of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to the attention of all of you LDS C.S. Lewis fans out there.
Some of you may remember CBS’s animated version of the story made for television in 1979 or the live-action version produced by the BBC in 1988.
The new film is being released by Disney in December of 2005. It is being directed by Andrew Adamson, who directed Shrek and Shrek 2. It will be his first live-action film. The sets, costumes, computer graphics, special effects, etc. are being done by WETA, the company that Peter Jackson helped found and that did the amazing work on The Lord of The Rings movies. The majority of the film was made in in New Zealand (Adamson, like Peter Jackson, is from New Zealand) and portions were filmed in the Czech Republic.
Go and watch the very exciting Movie trailer (high bandwidth).
And be sure to check out the official website for additional details (Warning: Flash intensive).
I wonder what kind of media discussion, if any, will be given to the Christian themes in the story (Aslan’s vicarious sacrifice on behalf of Edmund)?
This should also be interesting with the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie coming out in November. Discussions comparing and contrasting the use of “magic” in the Chronicles of Narnia to that in Harry Potter are sure to be rehashed. With The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe as an alternative, we are bound to see the re-emergence of denunciations of Harry Potter as pagan or satanic. We will also see some discussion about whether public schools should give the Christian themed book by Lewis equal time with the “pagan” book by Rowling.
I personally have enjoyed the Harry Potter books. I am still waiting, however, for them to become profound. I was disappointed in that regard by the 5th book. As Rowling brings her story to a close in the sixth book (due out in July) and the final book that is to follow, I’m sure I will be entertained, but will I be instructed or edified?
I find the Chronicles of Narnia not only entertaining, but instructive and edifying (that explains, perhaps, the reason why they are not emphasized in public schools!). Unless Rowling can pull off something absolutely brilliant in her final two books, I’m afraid that Harry Potter will never be much more than a fun read.
(It just occurred to me that perhaps none of you bloggernacle academics bother to even read “children’s” stories like the Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. If that is so then all I can say is: it’s your loss… 🙂 )
UPDATE: I fixed the links above. You should be able to get to the trailer and official site now.