We’re holding our breath...
The much-anticipated arrival of the big-budget Hollywood movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could be utterly brilliant, or it could fall flat as an Archenland pancake. Those of us who have read the books to our children, or enjoyed the animated series or the BBC versions, will understand that it is a project fraught with potential difficulties.
The special effects and the battle scenes, if the trailer is to be believed, will certainly match up to expectations. C.S. Lewis’s classic has been given The Lord of the Rings treatment, and shares many similarities in the way it was produced. Exterior scenes were shot in New Zealand, and the character design and special effects have been done by companies which worked on the adaptation of Tolkein’s works. But ultimately, the success or failure of the film will depend on the quality of the child actors, the believability of the Lion, and the script.
Jesus or PC?
The production company, Walden Media, is set up to produce family and educational films and has strong Christian backing. But the involvement of Disney, and the main screenwriter Anne Peacock, should give more cause for concern. Disney has shown itself more than capable of pulling the Christian guts out of stories in favour of more politically correct themes. And the screenwriter’s previous film credits are all stories that have a strong interest in racism. Will these pressures detract from the big message of the story — about how Jesus’s death can rescue traitors — and substitute it with weak politically-correct moralising?
