Narnia - in memory of childhood fantasy

I am three months too late in talking about Narnia but hey, that's the price you pay for working in Laos. I just finished watching Narnia over the Lao New Year weekend and something bothers me. Not because the movies sucks. Contrary to popular opinion, I actually thought the movie was great. Of course, not great like LOTR but in its own small, special way. It reminded me like an old A&W in one corner of the old Hougang Interchange (next to where the bowling center is). Obviously behind the times and the likes of McDonalds and KFC but it served one hell of a root beer float.

Digress : Ahhh, Root Beer Float. By the way, I meant Root Beer Float in a old giant A&W Mug and not those in a cheap paper cup served by A&W nowadays (what's with our fast food chains now?)

No, what bothers me immensely are those people who said the movie was no good but couldn't give any reasons to back their criticism up. When probed further, those dumbasses lamely said that it was not special like Harry Potter and the battle scenes were not great like LOTR.

It confirmed my suspicion that Singapore movie-goers are spoilt. They can't recognise a good fantasy movie if it is not adapted from a famous contemporary novel like Harry Potters or have digital-created dinosaurs walking about. Special effects don't impress us anymore to the extent that we barely bat an eyelid when a phoenix set fire across the battlefield in Narnia between melees of centaurs and minotaurs.

Let me repeat : A PHOENIX SETTING FIRE IN A BATTLE BETWEEN MELEES OF CENTAURS AND MINOTAURS. Which part of the above sentence did it not scream childhood fantasy fulfilled and dream cinematography?

(Peter on unicorn and a rhino kicking or goring ass)

All true Harry Potter fans (like XX) know that the last four Harry Potter movies suck major ass. Really. Four movies down the road and we are still waiting for a good HP adaptation to the big screen. We cringed whenever people said that the Goblet of Fire was good. Obviously these same people, like the director, couldn't tell the difference between a goblet of fire and a glass of beer. And can we not use LOTR battles as a benchmark? We are talking about two different genres here. Let me break it down for dumbasses who can't tell the difference:

LOTR : Middle-Earth. Last battle between elves, flesh eating orcs, men, mercenaries with unreal elephants and witch kings riding nazul (half dragons, half flying snakes). Oh and not to mention, the Balrog (fire demon) in the 1st epsiode.

Narnia : Narnia. Nice christian fairy land where animals like beavers and eagles talked. Lots of woodland beings like fauns and centaurs fighting against the White Lady.

Demons and dragons vs talking beavers and eagles. To me, the battles in Narnia are more real than those in Lords of the Rings. I find it refreshing to see a normal animal like rhino charging into a mass of minotaurs and wolves & boars fighting for their lives rather than demons and dragons.

I wish people would just look past LOTR and Harry Potter movies when judging a fantasy movie like Narnia. It is an old-fashioned, heartwarming movie about four children who found a fantasy land and choosing to fight for it. I wouldn't go into the christian ideals behind it (Aslan's resurrection, sins of Edmund and the eventual tragedy of Susan). Didn't everyone dream of finding a fantasy land when we were young - a land of unicorns and talking rabbits? Man, we have all become spoilt by special effects movies that we cannot even recognised or remembered our childhood fantasy anymore. Remember the faith in us when we were young?

Oh and by the way,

(Mr Tumnus and Lucy - where it all started)

Remember this scene. Believe me it will bring a tear to your eyes at the final ending of the last movie - if it goes all the way to the seventh book.