Narnia Test Screening: A First-Hand Review of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!
09/15/05
One of our messageboard residents, ATCMichael, was lucky enough to attend a test screening of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe... here's his account of the movie and his experience!
My family was one of a limited number of theater-goers selected to see the current production in progress, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" at a private test screening this past Wednesday. While the CG effects were not yet completed, music score was incomplete and production editing will surely change, we found the production to be a wonderful adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel by the same name.
Edmund, Lucy, Susan and Peter first arrive in NarniaIt's all there. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter who escape a World War II England by entering the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe. Narnia which should be a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that bring the story to glorious life. Once there, the children find that Narnia has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. The casting of Tilda Swinton as the the Witch, Jadis was perfect, although I needed to forget that she looked like a Borg Queen, which was hard to do when she wore an off-the-shoulder gown and was made-up with a white/snow based skin tone in a few scenes. Under the guidance of a noble, mystical and furry ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch's powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle [we hope] that will free Narnia from Jadis' icy spell forever.
You'll witness all the allegorical references including the double-betrayal, forgiveness and embracing of a sibling and the self-sacrifice, humiliation, death/murder and resurrection of the Ruler of Narnia.
Aslan Turns and Reveals HimselfThe 200 or so film goers were seated in one half of the theater with the remainder of the seating area occupied by the film production team. After the movie, we answered the questionnaires and were selectively interviewed by the Neilson employees who asked questions on behalf of the production staff.
In it's current form, this production will be a worthy entry into the movie fantasy adaptation library of classic novels. This movie will be off-the-shelf entertaining to children 7 - 13, as the original novels were, but to the jaded (or worldly) 14 and older crowd, many will make a comparison of the stories of this beloved land to the recent and well done LOTR trilogy, by Peter Jackson and not understand that Lewis and Tolkien were, in fact, contemporaries of each other.
From a review of the book The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends by Humphrey Carpenter:
A Minotaur is not an OrcFor years, a small number of Oxford dons and fellows, as well as some of their friends, met in a local pub,"Bird & Baby" , on Tuesdays to drink beer, hold discussions on such matters as mythology, morality, and literature, and read aloud the things they had been writing. Perhaps more important than these meetings were the Thursday night gatherings in the rooms of CS Lewis at Magdalen college. This group, which included such intellectual giants as Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Charles Williams, was known as "The Inklings".
Much of "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," and Lewis's Space Trilogy were read in these meetings. Lewis also read much of his apologetic work to the group. The Inklings have had an enormous effect on the world of fantasy and Christian apology..."
In fact, a not so worldly 23 year old sitting a few rows down from us, made the statement, "What a rip-off of the Lord of the Ring's" at the end of the screening. So much for our education system and the promise of our youth.
All 5 of us enjoyed the movie, even with the incomplete CG effects. My wife's children, ages 15 - 24, had all been indoctrinated into the Stories of Narnia as youngsters and remembered the tales fondly at the screening. The casting choices were excellent, the voices of the mythological characters were right-on and we all look forward to seeing the completed movie in December.
