Narnia: Brilliant

I picked up a copy of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe yesterday at Sam’s Club and the whole family watched it last night.

It’s one movie that certainly lived up to its lofty billing.

Surprisingly, I had never read the series of books by CS Lewis. Doc-wife, that intrepid soul, said she had read the first book in the series, but found it scary and lacked the courage to proceed to the others. My 11-year-old daughter, of course, has read the whole series a couple times.

I thought the script and acting were terrific. The messages also came through loud and clear: there are consequences, sometimes dire, to our actions; war is horrible, but sometimes unavoidable; sacrifice is sometimes required to ensure the success of a just cause. The Witch was glacially brutal and her minions equally debased – no moral equivalence here. The witch’s forces were comprised of bad guys, not good guys struggling under poor conditions. The Lion was regally noble, but gave no thought to compromise with the Witch to avoid the war – one does not give ground to evil.

Monsters and animals died in the conflagration; not all of whom were magically reborn. Yet the world was left a better place for their struggle. That’s a lesson I want my children to know…there IS value in struggling to do what’s right, even if the easier and more popular course is to compromise.