One thing I am not anticipating with any sense of relish is the release of a new “Chronicles of Narnia” film this year.
Still in its pupa stage of pre-production public relations, the data indicates the new film will have everything the insular entertainment community expects, and very little to offer those who have loved these books for what they truly are. Even though not scheduled to go into production until early 2026, the marketing gears are spinning, as seen by this quote from the CEO of IMAX, one of the production partners.
“This is not your mother’s or your grandmother’s Narnia. The music in it is unbelievably contemporary music, which IMAX fans like. I’m not gonna say specifically, but things like Pink Floyd and The Doors.”
I am going to self-report here: I love Pink Floyd and I love The Doors. But when I tell younger people about something like the “Dark Side of the Moon” LP, I realize I am sounding more like when my father told me about the cultural and artistic benefits of watching “The Lawrence Welk Show” every Saturday night.
But back to Narnia. My oldest son was not an enthusiastic reader when he was a boy. But he read the Narnia books, and I felt comforted that he was in the tender care of C.S. Lewis. I have no doubt my experience has been shared by more than one set of parents who found these books a great “gateway” to not only inspire reading in a child, but to sneak in major theological themes in such an artistic way. These books had the effect they had on my son, and all other sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters precisely because they were their grandparents’ books as well.
We may have to gird ourselves for the release of this film, which is likely following the vein of “reimagining” classic stories through a modern prism. I am not against a classic story having an agenda. C.S. Lewis certainly had one when he wrote these books. What troubles me is the hijacking of that agenda and turning its characterizations toward a modernist, post-Christian heading.
More marketing manipulations have followed, such as the big news that the voice of Aslan will be provided by Meryl Streep. Great actress that she is, this manifestation is vastly different from the decidedly masculine, deep baritone authority of Liam Neeson, which, an educated guess informs me, was the deciding factor in that casting choice.
This Narnia film will be based on “The Magician’s Nephew,” another red flag, as this book is heavily laden with magical and fantasy elements best kept in the hands of a Christ-centered author. Remove that creative force and anyone with a big budget and A-list actors can, and probably will, insert any number of new-age, neo-pagan bromides.
There may be a light at the end of this wardrobe, albeit a dim one. The director is Greta Gerwig, who has made some good movies. The PR machine spat out a purported quote from her saying this Narnia film will strip away the “pre-Victorian morality” of the characters. I find that quote dubious, because for one, it is not a reliable quote source, and two, the characters came from a man who may have been born with three years to go on Queen Victoria’s reign but was by no stretch of the imagination a Victorian. I will give Gerwig a pass, and hope her other quote about loving the books as a child will somehow have a revelatory effect on her.
We should never judge a book by its cover, and it is equally unwise and unfair to judge a film before a single scene has been shot. Still, Hollywood’s track record of taking classic stories and modernizing them beyond recognition — as the “Wicked” franchise has done — does not instill a lot of confidence.
Whatever the final film product turns out to be, there may be a silver lining if it inspires many parents and grandparents to dust off their own copies of the Narnia books and present them to a new audience, not in theaters, but in their own homes. That way, instead of hoping that the CEO of IMAX will be the best custodian of these stories, a new generation of readers can have C.S. Lewis as their guide.
