Monday, February 04, 2008

Star Wars and the Chronicles of Narnia

I love Star Wars. I remember when VCR's got really popular when I was a kid...about the 4th grade for me, and one of the things my dad did was buy up some movies, among them, the original Star Wars trilogy. (The others that stick out in my mind are Dumbo and The Little Mermaid, which contributed to my love for Disney and its music.) But I remember Star Wars as this cool epic story of good vs. evil, and for awhile I even wanted to name my first girl Leia. She was such a great character. We watched those movies over and over again and probably wore out the tapes. Well, now my children are in on the Star Wars craze. My dad watched it with them one night during a grandparent spend-the-night party, and now they are hooked. Star Wars this, Luke Skywalker that, Darth Vader's breathing, 'I wanna be Darth Maul for Halloween'. We have 2 Star Wars PS2 games, 3 light sabers, a Vader helmet, a Vader cape, and own/or have seen all 6 movies.
Here are a few comments I've heard over the past few weeks:

"I'll name my kid Luke Skywalker, and you can name yours Darth Vader."

"Mama, which one was the one that got his arm chopped off by Obi Wan Kenobi?"

"Mama, which robot is it that can't get over anything?" (Steven, trying to remember C-3PO)

Ah to be a kid again and in love with Star Wars. I still love to watch the movies even as an adult.

Speaking of epic tales of good vs. evil, and I am sooooo ready for the next Chronicles of Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, to come out. May 16th baby!!!! I am not generally a huge movie fan--I don't even really like to go to the movies. I'd rather sit in my own living room and eat my own way cheaper, fat-free popcorn, and not have to pay a babysitter. But this movie is different.

While we lived in CA, Biola brought in C.S. Lewis's step-son, Douglas Gresham, as a guest speaker for chapel one day. He was promoting The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. He was a fun speaker, telling us all about the audition process in finding the 4 children; and that they really did act like brothers and sisters on the set. He told us a little of what it was like to have C.S. Lewis as a step-father--he thought it was cool and loved Lewis very much. Gresham also encouraged us as the Christian community to support the film and christian films in general, because he said, what sells hollywood is money. Meaning, if we support these films and go see them and pay out money for them, then hollywood will keep making family-friendly movies. During the question/answer time, one of the students asked Gresham if Walden/Disney would make movies of any of the other Narnia books, and he replied that only if the first one did well. Then (I quote), he said, "Go see the movie! Take all your friends to see the movie!"

And then, the first one was SO GOOD!!! Very well made and believable. He said that they added the war part in the first part of the film even though it's not in the book, to give some believability to show how badly the 4 siblings NEEDED to get out of London. But for the most part, he was proud that the movie remained true to the book.

So, it's almost as bad as waiting for Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III; or the LOTR Trilogy to come out. And, it doesn't hurt that the guy who plays Prince Caspian looks a lot like Atreyu from The NeverEnding Story. Oh yeah, love me some epic adventures....

Check out the trailer here.

4 comments:

Paige M said...

I love Star Wars for a whole different reason.......I get to go take a long bath or watch TV downstairs by myself while Josh watches Star Wars with the kids. I'm not in to ANY Sci-Fi stuff. But Carson, only 2 1/2 years old loves it!! He even watches the more violent ones. Doesn't phase him. He talks about Star Wars constatntly, carries around the paper inserts out of the DVD case, would sleep with his light saber if I'd let him, has already planned his Star Wars birthday party, wants to watch it every night, plays pretend that he is "Wuke Skywoker". Did I mention he is only 2 years old!?!?!? AGHHH! But at least I do get to have some alone time during the movie, so I love Star Wars too!

Anonymous said...

My husband is a Star Wars fanatic too. I can remember when the original ones were re-released in the theaters and he explained them all to me. It was really funny to see other couples there and the males leaning over whispering to the females the synopsis of the story. I loved LWW so much too! Brian loves it probably more than I do because he grew up with the cartoons and books. We saw a very old cartoon of LWW where Aslan and the children are all dancing around in a feild of flowers after he comes back! It was cute. But I cried when I watch LWW. I believe that God uses all things to speak to our hearts and that movie definately spoke to mine.

Kimmipeach@gmail.com said...

we bought LWW when it came out on dvd. i think we'll see prince caspian in the theater.

mom used to sit in the floor of the hallway between the doors to mine and crissy's rooms and read out loud to us from the chronicles series. we were around 10 and 7 years old at the time. it's one of my favorite memories from childhood. if i close my eyes, i can hear her doing the different voices in the stories. that was my introduction to c.s. lewis.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Crissy said that the deep freeze might be starting to bite the dust ( duh duh duh...) But anyway, enough of cheezily quoting 70's rock bands. I have always loved the starwars series. Even through being labeled as a " starwars nerd" I have always been facinated with the story and he genius of it.