Jon got The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe from his sister for his birthday (which was last Friday) and so we watched it today. My thoughts:

The Good
[-] the casting — EXCELLENT, especially Lucy and Jadis
[-] the faithfulness to the book since it was pretty accurate
[-] the special effects
[-] the way the animals were portrayed, especially the fox and the beavers
[-] Aslan — Liam Neeson is da man!
[-] the costuming
[-] the way they did the scene where Aslan is sacrificed — very tasteful and very poigniant

The Bad
[-] the emotions stemming from the scene where Aslan is sacrificed — it was a struggle not to weep on my part
[-] the breaking of the stone table — could have been a louder sound
[-] the beginning part where they’re dropping bombs on London — wasn’t in the book though it wasn’t a badly done scene

The Cute
[-] the beavers!
[-] the fox
[-] pretty well all the animals
[-] Lucy!!!!

I didn’t cry during the sacrifice scene which was amazing — I’d been kind of hedging on watching the movie because I was afraid of the crying that would happen. The scene was also very tastefully done — both Jon and I were impressed. I also really caught the Biblical symbolism in the film — it was not overdone but if you knew the allegorical meaning behind the characters, you understood.

[+] It’s paining me that I can’t write long meaningful things like I used to do in 2003 and 2004.Â? I mean, I’m now home again and my life *is* interesting — I just haven’t been able to articulate a lot of things on here because after what happened last September, I’ve become more private about my life.

[+] My faith life lately has been exploring Orthodox Christianity and attempting to reconnect to my liturgical side since I am seriously missing liturgy.Â? There’s a part of me that wants to attend Anglican services agan (in Canada of course — Anglicans and Episcopalians don’t exactly exist here) if for no other reason than it’s what I imprinted on.Â? (Yes Pisco, I know I need to haul butt to DC and visit you.)

[+] I have been ignoring most media outlets other than Countdown lately as I’m sick of seeing people dying in Lebanon and I don’t really give a rat’s butt about the JonBenet case which was *already* overhyped.Â? The War in Iraq just depresses me and I have so little respect for the president that I don’t want to even see him speak.Â? Thank goodness for DVR technology which lets me flip through a TV program to the parts I want.Â? (In this case: ODDBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Â? Oh yeah, and whoever happens to be the Worst Person in the World for that day in case it’s Bill O’Reilly.)

[+] I have decided that I have no desire to see Snakes on a Plane.Â? I’m terrified of snakes that have a shot at killing me (which sucks because we have rattlers around here) and the movie was overhyped.Â? Besides, I’m now in a place where I kinda have to fly so I don’t want to deal with the thought of cobras and pythons on my Alaska Airlines flight.