A Review of the Chronicles of Narnia Film

I come into this review with the obvious defect of not having read the book upon which it is based-a shortcoming I confess freely, since my intention here is not to evaluate the correspondence between the film and the renowned C.S. Lewis book upon which it is based. Acquaintances who have read the Chronicles of Narnia books tell me that a high degree of correspondence exists between the film's events and moral message and Lewis's original intent-so I will presume that Lewis would have approved of the film's representation of his work. In the future, I intend to read the books for myself and verify this initial assumption. However, at present, I seek to evaluate this film qua film-and share the perspective of an atheist Objectivist on what is evidently a work inspired by Christianity.

The Andrew Adamson film, "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" holds a position of superiority over most films of our day due to several essential merits: it has a plot, it has an unambiguous conflict, and it has a didactic purpose-characteristics that most contemporary literature and films lack. Whatever one might think of the content of any of these three elements, their very presence renders the film superior to the muddled mindlessness of so many others-which convey no essential message or meaning and are littered with gratuitous gore, carnal intercourse, and profanity.