Esotropiart

My parents and I went to the theater to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last Friday. I know, a little slow on the EsoBlog report. I was rewriting my "blog software" as it were to compensate for the new fully database-driven EsoBlog. Now I can easily enter a blog entry in a nice little form, giving me all the options I need. When I hit the submit button, the entry is added to the database, and the RSS feed is automatically updated. Sweet.

That there first paragraph was bad because the topic sentence was not at all strengthened by the unrelated supporting sentences and conclusion. Oh well, back to Narnia. AWESOME MOVIE EXTRAORDINAIRE! In a nutshell, it was far better than anything I hoped or expected. I have long since been a Narnia fan, ever since I was a child, when my parents read the series to at bedtime. No other children's book has had such a lasting effect on me. C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are an absolute timeless masterpiece!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe seemed to start out a little slow, but I think my eyes and attitude needed adjustment. For some reason I felt the dialog and actions were simple to begin. I had forgotten, however, that C.S. Lewis wrote the Narnia series with children in mind. They are indeed children's books. So the normal adult scrutiny and expectations must be let go. When I realized this, perhaps 15 minutes into the movie, I remembered the age-old story and saw it on the big screen as through the eyes of a child once again.

The special effects, computer animation and live action were virtually seamless, leaving nothing to the imagination. I still have scars from watching the 1988 made for TV version, where many of the characters were flickering, choppy animations mixed in with live actors (like a really, really bad Roger Rabbit). Though I do remember being somewhat impressed with Aslan even in that old movie.

I can't wait to get the DVD and watch all the special features. The animal effects were so amazing that I am fascinated to see how they did it. Aslan really didn't look computerized; his fur was astonishingly realistic. And I typically have a fairly critical eye when it comes to computer effects, since I work with them a bit.

It is somewhat surprising to see that Disney left in all of the wonderful spiritual allegory. Disney is usually a somewhat liberal company and typically takes much license in changing stories to fit their worldview or intended message. In my opinion, they didn't change a thing as far as the message goes in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was fantastic to see the Christian message so blatantly presented in this classic story form.

I really hope they are committed to completing the seven-part series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It would be a shame if they combined any of the books though, so I prefer them to take their time and make each one a separate movie.