BAKER'S DOZEN!
Posted on 01/11/2006 8:36:00 AM PST by presidio9
I was all wrong about "Narnia."
Which is to say, about six months ago in this space I was hell-bent on the white-hot idea that Hollywood and the Christian-right group/billionaire that helped produce the tepid and saccharine flick would absolutely ruin "The Chronicles of Narnia" books, ruin the deep magic and the astounding sense of wonder these books held for millions of children (including this writer) by regurgitating them as a slick, dumbed-down, poorly acted smarm-fest full of ham-fisted Jesus allusions and excessive special effects, all from the director who brought you, ahem, "Shrek 2."
Things did not, shall we say, look good.
Truly, I was of the mind that the "Narnia" books, to my dreamy, rose-colored memory, were these insanely rich and ingenious tales, dense and deeply involved anecdotes of children exploring a phenomenally magical world that was so utterly not of this grungy, terrestrial plane it might as well have been Pluto. Like many, my time-addled vision elevated the books to the status of utter genius, largely due to the feeling of unchecked awe I can still recall them providing. And I was absolutely sure Hollywood would rape that memory for all the pseudo-Christian bullcrap and Burger King tie-ins it possibly could.
I was wrong. Sort of. Hollywood didn't actually ruin "Narnia." Hollywood didn't cheapen it all that much, or reduce it down or remove much of the original majesty by injecting it with too much CGI and not enough heart. Rather, Hollywood has done something even more depressing: It's revealed "The Chronicles of Narnia" books to be what they actually are: a rather lean slice of delightfully wrought but fairly simpleminded, largely hobbled fantasy for the imagination-deprived single-digit set.
I have now seen the movie. -snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"It is always the stupidest children who are the most childish, and the stupidest grown-ups who are the most grown up."
Exactly.
Why does reading Morford make me want to post sexy pictures of Catherine Zeta-Jones?
"Chronicles of Narnia" has made tons of $$$."
What? I thought the big hit of the Holiday season was "Brokeback Mountain".
This is one of my alltime favorite movies! My kids and I have seen it three times (first time EVER I have paid the theatre to see the same movie more than once, much less three times) and we just purchased the GBA game of Narnia (which is just as good!). I noticed not alot of Christian overtones in the movie aside of the Son of Adam and Daughter of Eve references.
This movie was definitely worth the wait! All the actors were really good and even the inexperience of the younger ones made it seem more real. I've read one review on here dogging it, but I disagreed with his opinion on it.
This is like one of those posts that starts out, "I am a Republican, but...."
Not sure Jadis' funbags would have done a lot for Morford.
Kitten looter!
Who's stopping you?
Poor Ms. Morford...she introduced her inner child to her inner cynic, and both have been bound and gagged by her inner pervert.
Bill, Morford's entire life is one gigantic, fabulous, feather-boa-wrapped fairytale.
Naw, that was another guy named Dan Savage. He later claimed that he didn't really do it. (He's also the guy who wrote bluntly that if a fast food chain was responsible for as much disease as the bathhouses it would have been shut down immediately. Didn't endear himself to the gay activist crowd with that one...)
Gee, Mark, you mean it might have been a good idea to see the movie before declaring it "sucked"???
LOL! That was really good, and really true.
I loved them both. LOTR was not as closely done to the book as Narnia, but thought they both captured the feel of both series very well. I have to admit I was a bigger Narnia fan growing up than LOTR fan, I never got over Biblo's whining for 100 pages before he ever left his front door to go on the journey, sort of soured the rest of the series for me.
Lewis was a gifted writer. His books will continue to be treasured by millions of readers long after Morford has been forgotten by the ever-fewer MSM consumers who glance over his columns on their way to the sports section and the TV guide.
Like many intros, there's more intro and less substance to LWW than some of the others, such as Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair -- or the Horse and His Boy. Eustace and Shasta are perhaps the best written characters in the series.
What is the author's complaint against people who have the misfortune to possess only one finger?
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