Obviously, Narnia

Several weeks ago, I realized that with the new movie coming out, Prince Caspian was going to need a rereading. I don't quite remember it from the first time around, but I was slightly disappointed.
Let me start by saying that 2 years ago when I first read the Chronicles of Narnia, I had no idea that they were influenced by religion. I was ultimately convinced that Aslan was the best big daddy ever, before I finally read that he was based on the dictating, hell-banishing, all powerful Christian God. That trickster, C.S. Lewis. For a minute, he had me putting my faith in a lion. It killed the series for me.
While rereading Caspian with this knowledge, the allusions to heaven ("the end of the earth") and belief in god and all that were completely obvious. I felt like I was reading the bible. It wasn't as fun, because all the mystery of magic was sucked out and turned into common religious miracles. Also, the book lacked in action and made me wonder how they could successfully adapt it into a movie. After attending the midnight premiere last night, I now know how.
The special effects were ENCHANTING to say the least. But this was nothing compare to all the beautiful natural scenery they used to depict this mystical medieval land. They replaced the boring "We're lost in the woods!!" part with a good 3 chapters worth of action, involving a siege of Miraz's castle. The utterly short battle chapter from the book was now captivating swordplay and creative battle tactics (why didn't Lewis think to cave in Aslan's How in order to completely surround Miraz's army?). At some points, it even poked fun at how old fashioned the books tend to be (Lucy's calling a dwarf her "dear little friend" is shot down as patronizing). This is one of the rare times that I will say, the movie was better than the book.
The only problems I had with the movie was the flirtatious relationship between Susan and Caspian, Caspian's macho heartthrob status, the cut of my favorite small character Bacchus, and the cheesy soundtrack. But you can't have everything your way. All in all, I had a nice time in Narnia, and when The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is released on May 7th, 2010, expect another double review.