I've read the Chronicles of Narnia dozens of times, and I don't think any movie will ever compare to Lewis' books.
![No way :noway:](./images/smilies/eusa_snooty.gif)
Yet, I really don't want to question the cast until I actually see them. Of course, the fact the girls
will be fighting is a disappointment.
![d'oh! #-o](./images/smilies/eusa_doh.gif)
In the book, they do aid in the aftermath battle . . . but aren't directly involved in the actual combat.
The following is an excerpt from the aforementioned article. Read the complete article
here.
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The tales also are infused with Christian allegory, and the heroic Aslan is meant as a Christ figure, a redeemer who resurrects in triumph. The challenge: to attract the spiritual-minded moviegoer without turning off the secular crowd.
Disney, along with other studios, has often courted the so-called faith community when the appropriate movie comes along, including such religious-themed comedies as Sister Act or uplifting sports dramas like The Rookie. But since the advent of box-office sensation The Passion of the Christ, such wooing has become a science. For that reason, Disney and Walden have hired Motive Marketing, the company that oversaw The Passion's outreach program, to assist them.
"It is natural that the press will manufacture more importance about the religious significance than is our intent," says Dennis Rice, the studio's vice president of publicity. "We are not going to reach out to one group over the expense of another, but embrace and acknowledge the fans of a very important piece of literature."
Yes, the filmmakers hosted representatives of more than 30 faith-based and educational groups at a preview held at Disney's Burbank, Calif., headquarters earlier this year. But, Rice says, "we're also at Comic-Con in July," referring to the annual San Diego fantasy, sci-fi and comic-book convention.
Faithfulness to the source will likely be of higher importance than faith itself. That is where Adamson comes in. Much as director and fellow New Zealander Peter Jackson used his own love of Tolkien as a guide to bring the Rings trilogy to the screen, Adamson, 38, is relying on the good-vs.-evil battle that unfolded in his imagination as he read the books as an 8-year-old.
"You ultimately can only make something that appeals to your own sensibilities," says Auckland-born Adamson, whose parents were both associate missionaries in Papua New Guinea. "I am not making religion an issue one way or another. It's a story about family. People should take from it what they want to take from it."
Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson who controls the estate and is a co-producer on the film, has wanted to make a movie of Narnia for decades. Lack of the technological tools relegated adaptations to TV versions up until now.
Still, Lewis himself had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood, says Terry Lindvall, who will teach a Christian theology and film course at the College of William & Mary this fall and is author of Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis. "He believed there was death in the camera. Meaning, when you translate word to image, the imagination dies."
But if anyone could do justice to Lewis' words, Lindvall believes the man who injected such hilarity into a sour green ogre is the chosen one. "Adamson is the perfect director for this. Lewis was never as somber as Tolkien. He was playful."
Besides, Lewis believed in translating faith into the vernacular. And, as Lindvall puts it, "The vernacular of our age is movies."