Christianity Today gives it a thumbs down because of its lack of spiritual insight and the great lines the film's writers missed that so enrich the reading of the book.
The bigger problem is the script, which relies on predictable dialogue and fantasy contrivances. The Dufflepuds played to mystery and laughs for at least two chapters in the book. Here they're barely a footnote (no pun intended) worth mentioning. Worse, their master Coriakin has zerocharisma, existing only to deliver some clunky exposition about defeating the evil mist by finding the seven swords of the seven Lords and laying them at the table of Aslan. Why? To set a goal for the movie, I guess.NRO's Mike Potemra enjoyed the film and didn't mind omissions and the changes:
As for the film itself, its messages are powerfully Christian without being tediously preachy. One of my favorites — I don’t remember whether it was in the book, of which I do not have a copy at hand — was in a scene in which a human character, who had been transformed into a monster, had been transformed back by Aslan. No matter how hard I tried, says the character, I couldn’t move toward Aslan; he had to move toward me. Whether it was C.S. Lewis’s line originally or not, I’m sure his Protestant heart would have been warmed by seeing this particular sentiment on the big screen. (Martin Luther, and St. Paul, would doubtless have approved as well.)The truth is that many so-called elite simply don't understand writing as finely tuned as C.S. Lewis's, particularly when it comes to a series of children's stories such as the Narnia series.
Lewis himself said, in a dedication, that the real life Lucy to whom Lewis dedicated a book was probably too old for fairy tales, but "...some day you'll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
The latest Narnia movie is certainly the best movie out there right now; it is, however, a pale shadow of what Lewis wrote. Little of the spiritual meaning has been transposed to the silver screen. Readers who have studied the books and perceived the spiritual depth they hold, the moral lessons they teach know that the books' imprint on the human brain and soul is enormous.
On a side note, the only book series that has been successfully made into films really are the Lord of the Rings books; these books were a struggle between good and evil, not so much a spiritual warfare as Lewis's books are. Indeed the Inkspots influenced one another, but Lewis's less complex structure has more meaning to the Christian than the wonderful Rings books.
Powerline has more on Lewis's writing, along with the following video clip from MSNBC that displays the astronomical ignorance of contemporary pundits, supposedly educated in the finest halls of learning.
Watch this video and marvel; watch the elites snigger and jeer at Palin's reading habits, as if she were a tremendous ignoramus who doesn't know what she's talking about (not unlike the mockery over her reference to partying like it's 1773, the date of the first tea party, which the elites seem to not be aware of).
The most offensive ignorance is on display after 2:20, as uttered out of the mouth of Richard Wolffe, who appears not to know anything of Lewis other than Narnia.
How is it possible to not be aware of the most thoughtful theologian of the twentieth century, other than in terms of children's books, which, in turn, have far deeper meaning than the elites seem to comprehend?
We do indeed live in different worlds.
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