Christmas movies

First it was three years of Lord of the Rings movies being released every Christmas, and now other movie makers have tapped into the audience that wants a magical Christmas. What the movie makers have also finally realised is how to get fans of old established works into the seats - they have started treating the original works with respect. Peter Jackson loved Lord of the Rings - and while we didn't always agree with everything I have to admit he had a vision and achieved what he set out to do. When I was a teenager I loved those books, I read them over and over again.

But even before that, my favourite books in the world were C. S. Lewis' Narnia books. Not only did I read the books million times over, all the games I played with my friends took place in Narnia with talking animals and all. So when I heard that movie was being made I have to admit I was excited - and even more so when I saw the fabulous looking trailer. And now the reviews have come in and critics seem to be unanimous - it's indeed everything it should be. Of course there is a lot of talk about the Christian ideals behind the books - but you see that never bothered me. As a child I had no idea - I didn't know the bible or the stories, nor did I realise the symbols - for me they were just stories. It can be debated what Lewis wanted to achieve with his books - but the truth is that they can be interpreted both ways. Christians of course want to see them as Christian books with stories of Jesus - but you can also see them (as I do) as stories about friendship, love, loyalty and growing up.

Lately Harry Potter movies have taken the some of that audience at Christmas - we saw the latest Potter movie Goblet of Fire last Friday. This is my favourite of the movies so far - it was very long, but very well adapted from the book, they had managed to capture everything essential. I had to go back though and read some chapters of the book the next day, as I guess there was just too much information to fit all in. But that's the thing about genre fans - if you're loyal to the original works and don't fix anything that wasn't broken, the fans will follow you to the ends of the earth. They will come and flock the theaters and they will buy the merchandise, and they will tell all their friends and relatives and make them do the same. And when the DVDs come out they will line up outside the stores to buy them too.

So of course we've got tickets to see the The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe tomorrow. And I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a movie.

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