The Narnia books are among a very select set of books that I have read more than twice. The others in this category are A Christmas Carol, Dandelion Wine, and the Lord of the Rings books (including The Hobbit). I’m pretty sure that’s all.
So my standards were very high going in to this movie. And, having never seen any movie that measured up to the book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the previews that I saw at Narnia Night were pretty amazing.
So it’s no small thing when I say that it was almost almost almost as good as reading the book for the first time. Lucy, in particular, was … well, she was Lucy. I’m not quite sure how they got the *real* Lucy into the movie, but they did.
I don’t know what the critics have said about the movie – I make a policy to never read what the critics say about movies – but I was blown away. This was the book as I remember feeling about it when I read it the first time. I already said that. There were even nuances that the movie brought out that I can’t say I’ve ever noticed in the book, but, on reflection, I see were always there.
I’m pretty sure that this will also enter that very small group of movies that I feel are worth seeing more than once or twice.