Norwich church's Narnia visit draws crowds
 A Norwich church’s latest visit to Narnia drew large crowds to the Hollywood Cinema to watch a special preview of Prince Caspian.
Seeking to follow up on their successful public screening of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the members of Surrey Chapel once again offered their friends the opportunity to revisit Disney’s version of CS Lewis’s fantasy world.
Over 270 people – most of them guests – crammed the big screen at Hollywood Cinema on July 19 to see the movie adaptation of Prince Caspian. As it was a private screening, there was no need to sit through the trailers – and instead, Pastor Tom Chapman gave an introductory talk explaining the spiritual basis of the Chronicles of Narnia.
“Such events are always a gamble,” he said, “as you don’t know what they have done with the story when you make the booking. But while changes from book to film are inevitable, CS Lewis was never so preoccupied with battles and romantic interest, the movie still retains much of the original magic.
“The children arrive in a Narnia under the thrall of evil men and their machinations, not a wicked witch and her magic. Aslan is all but forgotten – or has he forgotten Narnia? Even the children find it hard to see him. It’s not too hard to find parallels with our world today.”
“But you won’t find out whether there really is a forgotten spiritual dimension to our present world by going to the movies,” he says. “For that kind of magic, you have to come to church!”
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