Prince Caspian--Story Is Essential

This afternoon I took two of my kids to see Prince Caspian.  I didn't know what to expect in this movie, as The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe had so much advanced hype through the church in 2005.  I was not surprised at the line of people going to see it--our little theater was almost full this afternoon.

What I found was an engaging story that kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.  What a fantastic movie and story line to follow.  It reminded me of what a narrative really means to a good story.  It's essential to any lasting work of literature to have a cohesive story line that one can follow and be immersed in.  So many of the works today have very little if any story or narrative quality or nature to them.  From the opening scenes to the end, this Movie was consistent in it's narrative and true to the form of the narrative.

This what makes movies, theater and poetry have longevity--narrative, story.  Sadly, it's something that we're losing today as less and less creativity is encouraged in our schools and in our art.  We seem to think that special effects will carry the line.  It won't.  The only thing that the special effects did in this movie was to amplify the story  and carry it to another level.  I could think that even if someone was simply on screen reading this story to us, it would still have the impact that it did this afternoon. C.S. Lewis was a master of the narrative.

Now-on to Indiana Jones this Friday.  My 10 year old has discovered these films over the weeken and is waiting to see the next installment.  I believe that this series is just as dependent on narrative as Narnia.   Long live great film making and great narratives.   Narratives impact the culture.