The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: The Book

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe premiers tonight, and I will be seeking it tomorrow. I refreshed my memory of the story this week by listening to the audiobook (I’m too lazy to read).

Some observations:

• I was reminded that it really is a kids’ book. You’re never really fully immersed in the world because the book it written with the assumption that a parent is reading it to a child. There are a lot of sentences in it like, “If you’ve ever been up all night crying, you’ll know exactly how poor Lucy and Susan felt.”
  
  In contrast, The Lord of The Rings (even The Hobbit, which is clearly for younger readers), never has a narrator talking at you.

• Despite the obvious parallels between Jesus and Aslan, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe isn’t didactically Christian. In fact, there are probably as many pagan elements as Christian in the story.
  
  I’ve read many articles about how Disney is pushing this movie to the evangelical crowd, and the book in its original form is not nearly meaty enough to base a sermon on. I shudder to think what may have been done to make this movie appealing to the deeply religious.

I’ll be back tomorrow with part two after I see the movie.