Reviews

This is an incomplete review as my wife and I could only take about an hour and a half of it. As for the acting, it's not bad for an older movie. The problem we had with the movie, and it's a major one for us, is that Christianity is wrongly portrayed. I realize that it may not be a problem for everyone, but Christianity is portrayed, pretty much as Judaism.

If the faith of the female lead were Jewish, I would have been able enjoy the movie. But to have her portrayed as a Christian, and yet Christianity portrayed as a list of do's and don't's, takes away from the impact of the movie. I know that many would ask me, "What do you mean? Christianity IS a list of do's and don't's." And I know that's what a lot of people think it is. But Christianity is about how humanity cannot reform themselves... that we are separated from God by our rebellious hearts and wills...that there is only one way for us to return to a relationship with God...and that is to trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross.

We don't reform ourselves to be acceptable to God. That's impossible. We accept the free offer of forgiveness that Jesus extends to us. We accept His forgiveness, and only then can we enter into a whole new relationship with Him...having the guilt for our shortcomings and rebellion cast as far as east is from west.

But the movie portrays Christianity as a religion in which the followers of Jesus simply do the right thing.

Before I even start, let me tell you who I am. First and foremost, I am a 61 year old father of five and sucker for feel good movies that are squeaky clean. I love movies that hit me emotionally, have good character development, and likable characters. I also love movies that feature any level of character redemption, where bad people become good. When I leave a movie, I don't want to feel depressed. When all is said and done, I think there's a longing in each human heart for a happy ending. I actually believe that this longing is rooted in our, mostly unconscious, longing to know God and believe in His ability to make even the darkest circumstance work out in the end.

Given all that criteria, this movie is a perfect ten for me. I have probably watched it ten times. Every time I watch it I have tears streaming down my face. I used to try to get all my kids and their friends to watch it and, for some reason, they usually are not as impressed as I am. It seems that the younger the viewer, the less likely they are to rate the movie highly. Most of my older adult friends love it.

I feel pretty confident in saying that if you loved August Rush, you'll love this movie.

I very much enjoyed this movie. It helped that my 22 year old daughter saw it first. She's an avid C.S. Lewis fan and expressed disappointment that the magic of his writing wasn't captured by the film. So I was prepared to be disappointed, which for me is a good thing. I hate having movies over-hyped...it seems they never live up to it. I agree with my daughter by the way. It would be very difficult to capture Lewis' magic from any of his books. It would have to be done in the dialogue if anywhere. But, like Lord of the Rings, I was able to put my memory of the book aside and enjoy the movie for what it was. I would have liked to have seen the majesty and omniscience of Aslan better displayed. He almost seemed to be too much a creature and not who he really represented. I would also have liked to see more development of the relationships between the kids and Aslan as happened in the book. But all in all, very good. I'd give it an 8.8