A Christmas film recommendation: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Despite the heavy-handed religious analogies I’m a complete sucker for C.S. Lewis’ Narnia in all formats, including the 1980s BBC adaptations. Aged seven I gave a presentation to my class in school on how I’d converted my bedroom into a miniature Narnian vista. Strewn with white blankets representing snow and Lego versions of all the characters it was an impressive sight spoilt only by my poorly conceived idea to feature He-Man’s mount, Battle Cat, in the role of Aslan. However much I could put his massive relative size down to perspective there was simply no getting away from the fact that he’s a green tiger.
I have no issue with the screenplay or Andrew Adamson’s direction taking liberties with the source material, especially when it serves to make the film better paced, less of a Christian allegory, and more exciting. I don’t remember Aslan biting the Witch’s face off in the novel and I’m fine with the removal of thinly disguised anti-Muslim sentiment. If, like me, you have a rolling production line of cousins the DVD is an easy guaranteed Christmas treat.
An ex-girlfriend of mine is a big fan of realism in films. Suffice it to say that when I dragged her along to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe she liked it up until the children walked through the wardrobe. I, meanwhile, left the cinema wide-eyed and full of childlike wonder. I couldn’t wait to get home, gorge myself on Turkish Delight, and thoroughly investigate furniture under the guise of “tidying up.” Our differing opinions on the film’s actual quality were merely a contributory reason for our subsequent break-up.