Narnia

We finally went to see The Chronicles of Narnia last night. I have been intending to re-read the books, but I decided to hold off on doing so until I saw the movie. Why? Because the last time I read the story, I should think I was no more than 7 or 8 years old. All of those memories in my head are the ones I wanted to have with me going into the movie. I wanted the magic of a story seen through a child's eyes, instead of the new picture I will doubtlessly form after having read the books with a little more understanding and the host of mental images that I've accumulated over the 20 odd years since that last experience with Narnia. Sounds a little romantic, I know - but regardless of how it sounds... it worked! Seeing Mr. Tumnus hiding behind the tree, and Edmund's delight at the idea of all the turkish delight that he could eat!

I do have one complaint, however: they did not include one of my favorite literary exchanges of all time in the script! When the children are outside of Mr. Tumnus' house and first encounter Mr. Beaver, I was delighted. Who's not going to like a beaver who not only talks but has an English accent to boot? But then they go to his house (his dam house... har, har, har) and this part of the conversation was skipped over -

“Is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” Said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the king of the wood and the son of the great Emperor Beyond the Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion,” Lucy said.

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Aww man, I just love that! The verbage, the concept, the everything. I would've loved to see & hear that little CGI beaver say my favorite line, but alas, it either ended up on the cutting room floor or was just too wordy for Mickey Mouse's liking. The worst part of it is, though, that they still had the part in the very end where Mr. Tumnus says something to Lucy about Aslan not being safe, to which Lucy smiles and says, "No, but he's good." Alluding back to the exchange that never happened in the movie! Doh!

In any case, yes, I did enjoy the movie very much. Now you know.