The Chronicles of Narnia

I guess I don't remember reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was in school. Just before the movie was to be released I decided to read it. The book was great and like most books made into movies I figured the movie would be a let down. So last night the kids and I went to see the movie. Disney has done a great job! Now we just have to wait for the DVD to come out in stores.

In the book, Lewis writes of four children Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy who go to stay with a reclusive old professor in a mysterious country house. While playing a game, Lucy, the youngest, hides in a wardrobe and discovers that it leads to a magical world called Narnia. This land, which is inhabited by talking animals, is ruled by the lion Aslan, a good and powerful king. Narnia, however, had come under the spell of the evil White Witch, who had caused it to be always winter but never Christmas there. Before Lucy can get back to tell the others about Narnia, her rather bad-tempered brother Edmund discovers it for himself. He is taken up by the White Witch, who lures him to her side with Turkish Delight, a soft, jelly-like candy, and promises of gifts and powers. It is only when Aslan sacrifices his own life that Edmund is saved. Aslan, however, comes back to life. He and his followers win a great battle over the forces of evil, and the four children are made kings and queens of Narnia. At the end of the book, after many years have passed, the children return from Narnia the same way they came into it, through the wardrobe, only to discover that no time has passed at all. Although their adventure appears to be over, the professor tells them that they will again find themselves in Narnia someday, when they least expect it.

C.S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia with children in mind, but he also wanted to convey a larger message. The Gospel is presented in the Chronicles of Narnia just as it is in the Bible. Aslan represents Jesus Christ who died as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again before ascending into heaven.

This is a wonderful movie to take your children, friends and family to see. It's an opportunity to present the gospel to them after the movie by comparing the movie to the Bible and drawing out the similarities.