**Comparing Narnia and LotR**

[Lalaith]

Interestingly, what seems to be happening here in the UK is that the evangelical "grabbing" of Narnia is actually putting people off seeing it. (That, and generally lukewarm reviews) The British general public are very secular in their instincts and don't like anything they suspect to be overtly religious propaganda. (The Passion of the Christ did very badly in UK cinemas) I've heard a fair amount of talk both in the media and among ordinary people regarding "dodgy Christian moralising" in Narnia.
It's the same with the march of the penguins movie. I've heard a lot of people say, disparagingly, "oh, that's that film that all the American Christians really latched on to," (despite the fact that the film-maker himself has disassociated himself from the claims made about the penguins' family values...)
I personally intend to see both films, and make my own judgements.

As for the LotR films, there was also a bit of sneering here when they first came out, but of a different kind. Narnia is held in more general affection than Middle-Earth in the UK - it is considered more mainstream, more people read the CS Lewis books as children, whereas Tolkien (or rather his fans) had a slightly more odd and geeky reputation. It was only when the PJ films began to be seen as a movie event, like the Star Wars films, that the sneering stopped.