films are not meant to be books, but neither are they meant to be so shallow and empty

Rating: 2/10 (29 November 2006)

The tragic reality of our time is that people don't read books and don't like to be challenged. The greatness of Lewis's books were their commitment to hard realities and the strength of hope when it is not sugar-coated.
This film was made for modern Americans. No surprise there. But Lewis's books were written for a far wider audience.
As deviating as Peter Jackson's films were, at least they were entertaining in their own right. This was just boring fluff. The actors have a self-consciousness in their performance that is as bad as the self-consciousness that poisons modern American integrity. Mr. Tumnus was always one my favorite characters from the books. But here he is a weak fool with no convincing heart. I think many fans expected the professor to be more like Lewis himself. One good scene was when the Lucy is staring into the fire while listening to Tumnus's flute and she sees the figures dancing in the flames. They would have to make the whole film in that manner if they even wanted to come close to the spirit of Lewis's books. While in the theatre I sat next to a boy probably four years old. He was completely bored, jumping around, kicking the seat in front of him. During the fire scene, he suddenly became completely still and was utterly enthralled.
The child knew.