Friday, December 30, 2005

The Chronicles of Narnia.

Carol, Mary, and I saw this last night at Sunset Place. We enjoyed it. There were fascinating scenes, one of my favorites being the long shot of the beginning of the battle, where the army led by Peter charges the army of the White Witch. In that scene the faster elements of the good army run out ahead of the rest of the army as the charge takes place, as you might expect. Those elements are the cheetas, and it is quite exciting. There is such care and detail given that scene. To me there is a different feel to the battle than the ones in Lord of the Rings - not so much better or worse, just different and just as glorious.

The most surprising scene to me is the one with Father Christmas. (It has been so long since I read the book that I didn't remember that he was in it.) This kindly man pulls his big bag out of the sleigh, and what does he give to each child? Weapons!!! I thought we've been through all that with Santa Claus! We don't give such things in play-toy form to little children, much less the real thing. (At least weapons were also given to the little girls. In a left handed way, at least that was politically correct. Personally, I think when you are really serious about doing some killing, you most definitely arm the women as well as the men.) Putting all the sneaky Christ stuff aside, this idea of arming children to fight evil is really dangerous. I mean, do we really believe there is evil in the first place? Come on!

And the poor White Queen is not so much evil as simply a mess. Let's have the Mary Kay people get ahold of her and let's give her some gift certificates to Ann Taylor. (Where is Father Christmas for her?) She could use some counseling and a case of Sterno. She needs the company of beautiful people. Speaking for all vegetarians all over the world, what happens to her at the end is simply outrageous.

Thank goodness we have King Kong this season to suck away viewers. In that movie, what we thought is evil is good, and what we rely on to keep order, well that's bad. (Gee, I'm getting mixed up here. I think I'll go listen to NPR. They will restore a little reality.)

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