I managed to see a preview of Prince Caspian at the movies on Friday May 9, as a member of the press. Having read the Narnia books as a young boy, I was reasonably familiar with the story and expected a swash-buckling effects-laden experience. I was not disappointed. Here’s the trailer.
Filming was shot by NZ director/producer Andrew Adamson, whose earlier work includes Shrek I, 2 and 3, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Familiar NZ scenes for me were the Dart River near Glenorchy (I spent a week walking through there in 1991) and Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula (I spent Christmas there in 1982). Studio shots were filmed in Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic. Other scenes were filmed in Slovenia and Poland.
As Trumpkin says, “You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember”. Adamson takes the stories of battle hinted at by C.S. Lewis and brings them to the foreground. People and creatures die, though without any clear bloodshed. This is a family movie after all. A whole new sequence is added to the plot - the storming of the Telmarine castle. Battle scenes are provided with elaborate plot twists.
In the book the Pevensies (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) connect up with the Narnians towards the end. For the sake of dramatic interplay between the characters (including tension between Peter and Caspian) that meeting is introduced much earlier.
Adamson brings the story into the 21st century with an alternative to the C.S. Lewis sheltering of the female gender. Susan is clearly engaged in battle in the movie and enjoys a romantic attraction to Caspian. “It would never have worked out”, she says.
There are subtle flavours added by the casting team. Caspian, Miraz and the other Telmarines speak with Hispanic accents, a reference to their pirate origins. The centaurs appear to have an African origin. It makes good sense in terms of increasing the ethnic spread of the audience, but runs the risk of perpetuating the English jingoism that formed the backdrop of C.S. Lewis’ world.
My favourite character would have to be Trumpkin, played by Peter Dinklage. This dwarf has a deeply cynical, humorous and yet reflective character that appears to have been developed through years of patient long suffering.
The theology of this C.S. Lewis novel is subtle, with hints of questions relating to the absence and invisible nature of Jesus. Why can some see him and others not? Would the plot have been different if Lucy and her siblings had responded to Aslan’s guidance earlier? Aslan twice reminds Lucy that things don’t happen the same way twice, once in a dream sequence and once in waking mode. Was that a glitch in the script or an example of dramatic irony?
Be prepared for a long movie with stunning cinematography, simmering effects and a storyline that will keep you guessing.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, will be released in cinemas nationally in Australia on June 5. Heritage HM will also be delivering a range of resources to churches and schools Australia wide. For details contact 07 5445 6865 or email info at astounded.tv.
The UK and USA have had their premieres of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Narnia opens in NZ tomorrow. But in Australia we have to wait until Boxing Day. Maybe it’s because we don’t have such an investment in the movie. The book was written by a Brtish writer born in Ireland, C.S. Lewis. The film was directed by a New Zealander, Andrew Adamson, known for his direction of Shrek. The filming was done in Auckland and parts of the South Island. No doubt the money came from the USA.
So we have to rely on trailers and reviews on Narnia from around the world.
One interesting resource I came across recently was the Christianity Today interview with Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis, Honorary Vice President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation and the co-producer of the film. Gresham points out that even though he has a Christian faith he chooses to interpret the Narnia books and movie in broader terms. He points out that there are dying/living stories connected with Hinduism and Norse mythology.
“Christians who watch the movie or read the book will look for Christian symbolism. But I think that’s the wrong way to approach it. I think it’s far better to read the book or see the movie and try to find out where you fit into Narnia. Analyze yourself and how you would react under these circumstances. Who are you? Are you an Edmund? Are you a Peter? Or a Lucy or a Susan or a Tumnus? Where do you fit?”
Gresham talks about his stepfather’s unease with the movie industry. C.S. Lewis wrote a letter to BBC producer Lance Sieveking in 1959 in which he outlined his reluctance for the books to be made into movies. The text is available at NthPosition. “Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare”, Lewis wrote.
Lewis was a writer and a man of his time. I imagine he may have seen things differently now if he had seen the work done by Jackson on Lord of the Rings.
I received an email today from Christian Music Updates. I’ve been on this list for a while. I’m not sure how I got on the list. I tried unsubscribing at one point. Anyway I’d been thinking about trying again. But today’s post caught my eye.
It began with the text:
As we’ve previously done with films like “Polar Express,” Motive Entertainment has created a wide variety of resources and events for the upcoming release of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” (in theaters Dec. 9) - for faith, educational, and community leaders.
Hey that sounds good I thought. So over to www.narniaresources.com I went. The site provides a movie overview, the capacity to register for updates, order free materials, download trailers, behind the scenes videos, and promotional imagery, as well as information on buying block tickets for churches, schools, scout troops and other large groups or organisations.
Only problem is that the free Narnia School kit, Educator’s Guide, Discussion Guides and posters are only available within the United States.
So who is the we of “Motive Entertainment”? It turns out that Motive Entertainment is Paul Lauer, the man behind the promotion of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and Tom Hanks/Paul Zemeckis film, “The Polar Express”. See Motive Marketing’s web site for more details.
Tim at Challies.com was complaining last week about the crass movie marketing targeted at Evangelicals. Adrian Warnock at his UK Evangelical Blog says that he’s all too happy to receive sneak previews about what ’should turn out to be the film of the year’. I’m with Adrian on that one.
One interesting resource I came across recently was the 
