Narnia nostalgia now on DVD

I grew up with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” From the rather shoddy animated version to the BBC miniseries, my family always watched different versions of it together. It was about as much a classic in our house as Disney and “The Lord of the Rings.”

A few months ago, my father and I went to see the newest rendition of the movie, which has just been released on DVD. It was a wholly refreshing experience hinted with nostalgia. It was also the classic story not withstanding its CGI unicorns, lions and griffons. Unlike any of the “Lord of the Rings” movies, one didn’t walk out of the theater saying what parts it was missing. It stuck to the story.

I was most surprised at the number of foul reviews the movie received. I have to wonder how much of this was due to the present standards of cinema against the classic story.

For example, many critics looked foully upon the Pevensie children. They were thought of as “too flat” and “lacking character.” However, what many fail to realize is that within C.S. Lewis’ book, there was no real depth given to the family. The movie went out of its way to add more redeemable, emotional qualities that were just not given in the book. If anything, the opening scene of the London bombing and the family’s reaction were indulgences Hollywood added in to help the development along.

One of the more humorous notions about the movie lay in the aspect of feminists jumping down Disney’s throat in the argument that there are almost misogynistic themes of women in power as portrayed within Tilda Swinton’s knockdown performance of the White Witch. This is a classic concept! Witches have inhabited literature and film since before “The Wizard of Oz.” It is not a matter of women; it’s a matter of good verses evil.

Lastly, one of the biggest arguments against the movie was the blatant Christian allegory. Now, I realize that modern cinema partakes in its fair share of trying to make things as politically correct as possible, but keep in mind that C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer. Despite the fact that the “Chronicles of Narnia” is one of his most well-known series and a self-proclaimed series of children’s books, they are colored by the same themes with which he wrote books such as “The Screwtape Letters” and “Mere Christianity.” To have tried to downplay this notion of Christ-figures and character roles would have been all but insulting to the original work.

In general, it is rather painful to see how movie-goers today have fallen away from an appreciation of art and individualism. To change a book for the sake of making it a movie that appeals to the slobbering masses is unthinkably crude. Labeling a complete change of mood or theme as “artistic reinterpretation” is just mockingly lacking any sort of truth. If you’re not ready to take something as it is in its archetypical genre, don’t see it. Leave “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” for people who can get over themselves.