Dawn Treader-No Thank You

[Eric Paddon]

First Hollywood makes a movie about C.S. Lewis, the greatest Christian apologist of the 20th century that totally minimizes the importance of Christianity in his life and how it brought him and Joy Davidman together ("Shadowlands")

Now Hollywood takes his own stories that he *specifically* identified as Christian allegories with no wiggle room and their PR machine goes out of it's way to DENY this point.

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/holly ... ore-424433

The anti-Christian bigotry of Hollywood knows no limits it would seem since Christian works are not allowed to remain as such for the sake of their definitions of political correctness.

Neeson and Johnson will rue their words when they see this movie take in less than impressive box office because these comments are a guranteed turn-off to the audience that most wanted to see these movies made.

[Eric W.]

No surprise.

[AndyDursin]

I can't believe he's for real. Johnson's comment is flat out one of the dumbest, most absurd things I've ever read. HE DOESN'T KNOW if the books are Christian? LOL. No wonder why this whole series has been something of a letdown.

That said, I wouldn't necessarily boycott the movie because of those comments. What the PR people and left-of-center producers try to spin and what the film actually puts out are two entirely different animals. I mean, I'm totally unsurprised Hollywood types are trying to distance themselves from being a "Christian film," but at the same time, Walden Media only makes family-oriented pictures sometimes with religious overtones so it looks like a weird marriage anyway. You've got a company that has no issue promoting family values like Walden and Fox and then some Hollywood producers like Johnson who probably feel uncomfortable promoting the Christian allegory inside it.

Of course the first NARNIA made loads of money because it a) came out after LORD OF THE RINGS and rode that wave and b) it tapped into the Christian market and made a wad of cash because of it. So they are being narrow-minded in trying NOT to market it as a "Christian movie".

I hope the film does well but a lot of reviews are mixed. Have to remember Disney axed the series after PRINCE CASPIAN disappointed and Fox picked it up but slashed the budget to, I think, literally 1/2 or 1/3 of the previous film. CASPIAN had cost a fortune.

[AndyDursin]

Another reason not to boycott -- I've seen plenty of leering reviews from left-wing critics looking down on the religious elements of it. So it can't possibly be toned down to the point of being non-existent if that kind of commentary is out there.

[Paul MacLean]

I see no reason to boycott the film because of Johnson's and Neeson's "ecumenical" perspective. All of the allegorical elements are probably retained intact, as they were in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe movie.

I don't think the filmmakers are trying to slam Christianity, so much as they fear alienating audiences of different beliefs (or non-beliefs). Box office figures are the bottom line in that business.

In much same way, the makers of The Golden Compass danced around the fact that Phillip Pullman's "fantasy" has an implicit (if not explicit) anti-Christian perspective (almost to the point of being propaganda).

While Johnson and Neeson come off as decidedly naive to claim they've no idea what Lewis was on about in his books, I DO think is is good that they are helping to create the impression that this film is not church propaganda.

What is ironic though, that Neeson and Johnson are trying to pretend they don't know Lewis' work is a Christian allegory, when JK Rowling -- who is loathed by Sunday school teachers far and wide -- openly admitted to elements of Christian allegory in her Harry Potter books.

[mkaroly]

Another reason not to boycott -- I've seen plenty of leering reviews from left-wing critics looking down on the religious elements of it. So it can't possibly be toned down to the point of being non-existent if that kind of commentary is out there.

Actually, I read an article recently that claims the movie is more overt in its Christian imagery to, among other things, win back the audience that made the first film so successful: here is a snippet of the article that makes my point followed by the link to the article from the NY Times.

Twentieth Century Fox and Walden Media are trying to pull off just that feat with “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” the third installment in the “Chronicles of Narnia” series based on the Christianity-themed novels of C. S. Lewis. Conservative moviegoers — what Hollywood calls the “faith” audience — powered “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” to $745 million in global ticket sales.

But “Prince Caspian,” engineered with intense battle sequences to appeal to teenage boys, turned off the religious crowd and sold about $420 million at the global box office, a sharply disappointing result for a film that cost about $350 million to make and market. “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” about three children who must resist temptation to free a fantasy world from evil, returns to overt religious imagery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/busin ... gewanted=1

I liked both films...the first one was excellent, but the second one was too much like LOTR for my tastes. However, I felt that both films wore their religious message clearly on their sleeves and in a lot of their imagery, and both times I came out of the movies reflecting on the Biblical messages they communicated and was moved. They aren't exact duplicates of CS Lewis' books, but they aren't as bad as some have made them out to be in the press. I am going to try to see the movie this weekend and I'm hopeful that it will be worth it.

[AndyDursin]

Thanks for that article Michael. I haven't been following the production history of the film too closely outside of the studio angle, but like I said, it makes sense to go after the "Christian market" when the first picture had done so well and the picture was pitched to a certain extent at them. With Walden aligned with Fox this time, I'm guessing there was no issue in going back to the religious elements a bit more. That said with the budget coming down, if the movie performs just moderately they ought to be in decent shape.


At any rate, boycotting the film is ridiculous when the film itself still has the messages intact. I also agree with Paul they're in the business of selling tickets and not alienating viewers, and while the movie itself can speak for itself, they will say or do anything from a PR angle not to label it a "Christian film" which, lets face it, can be poisonous to certain viewers or markets. You want the message to get out there as far as it can while still remaining a mainstream movie.

Either way it seems the LORD OF THE RINGS influence has also been kiboshed for this installment which can only be a good thing as well. CASPIAN was a noisy, headache-inducing film and I hope for the best here.

[Eric Paddon]

I'm not favoring an organized boycott, but I do think that these comments are absolute poison. Like it or not, the Narnia series is beloved because it's regarded as Christian and there is no excuse for these people involved in the production to try and suggest the story material is something it isn't. This is as absurd as someone saying there's Christianity to be found in certain novels of H.G. Wells.

To me, the comments from both Neeson and Johnson do come off as a slam because it represents their belief that if the work were what it is intended to be, that would somehow be a "bad" thing. It is not propaganda to simply acknowledge where Lewis was coming from and what these books have long represented.

[Eric W.]

I'm still going to buy it on Blu-Ray on day one.


From what I've heard David Arnold is definitely delivering the good on the much needed music upgrade for this series. He's really on a short list of composers that should have been on this all along.

[AndyDursin]

They sent me the soundtrack CD, which I haven't listened to yet, but apparently he uses the Gregson-Williams theme on two specific tracks and that's it (I don't even remember a "theme" in those films lol).

[Eric W.]

They sent me the soundtrack CD, which I haven't listened to yet, but apparently he uses the Gregson-Williams theme on two specific tracks and that's it (I don't even remember a "theme" in those films lol).

Yeah, I was wondering about that and laughed, too.

What theme?



They should have just let Arnold cut loose and not look back.

[AndyDursin]

They sent me the soundtrack CD, which I haven't listened to yet, but apparently he uses the Gregson-Williams theme on two specific tracks and that's it (I don't even remember a "theme" in those films lol).

Yeah, I was wondering about that and laughed, too.

What theme?



They should have just let Arnold cut loose and not look back.

I'm pretty sure Arnold did what he wanted, looks like there's just a nod or two in the score from the prior entries.

[Eric W.]

I'm pretty sure Arnold did what he wanted, looks like there's just a nod or two in the score from the prior entries.

Good.

Now if you want to amuse yourself: Go on Amazon and look up the soundtrack and read some of the user reviews. See if you can spot some of the comments that made do these: and

[Paul MacLean]

They sent me the soundtrack CD, which I haven't listened to yet, but apparently he uses the Gregson-Williams theme on two specific tracks and that's it (I don't even remember a "theme" in those films lol).

I hope he didn't use that ludicrous faux-"Enya" title theme!