Trailer Time: Narnia- The Magician's Nephew

 

Click here for the YouTube link to the trailer.

I have been trying to write about the news regarding the new Narnia movies from Netflix.  Every time I have tried, too many thoughts and feelings kept bubbling up.  I had too many things I wanted to say so that my paragraphs would crash together like a cacophony of chaos.  

Part of the reason I had such trouble is because it is difficult to level any kind of criticism against a movie without seeing any of it.  All the news reports have been troubling, but how can I have any sense of the movie’s quality until some of it is shown.

But now that the first teaser has been released, I have thoughts.

The teaser starts off in a way that made me incredibly hopeful.  The feel for the world and its child-like sense of wonder is apparent.  Even the fantastical Wood Between the Worlds looks sufficiently spectacular.

But, then when they get to Charon, it all falls off the rails.  The look, sound, and feel developed into something like a psychedelic trip.  

Here is the frustrating thing about all of this: the teaser shows that director Greta Gerwig has the skill to make an adaptation in the spirit of CS Lewis.  

Instead, she chooses not to.

I always remember Peter Jackson stating in an interview that the filmmakers behind The Lord of the Rings were very careful not to put any of their own cultural baggage and instead wanted to do their best at presenting Tolkien’s themes.  They did make changes to the story in adapting it, but all of it was in service to Tolkien.

The Magician’s Nephew feels like it is in service to Greta Gerwig.  She has spoken about her love of pop music and its effect on her.  She seems to be interpreting Lewis through this lens.

One of my biggest critiques is that Uncle Andrew and Jadis do not look sufficiently evil.  Andrew is the classic fool who thinks he is wise, but he also is someone who would be a dictator if he had any competence.  This Andrew looks more quirky than malevolent.  Jadis is the embodiment of the corrupted feminine.  Tilda Swinton was womanly in her intimidating power.

The Jadis in this teaser looks like she stepped out of The Fifth Element and has all the intimidating power of Ronald McDonald.

But the biggest thing that this teaser needed to do was get me to get on board with her version of Aslan.  If you are going to do such a radical experimentation on a beloved character, then show us why your vision should be supported.  But Aslan is barely in it and we get none of Meryl Streep’s performance.

In the book The Magician’s Nephew, Jadis is dissatisfied with her world of Charn, so she decides to destroy it.

I worry that this is what Gerwig is doing to Narnia.