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A long time ago the lions ate the Christians. Nowadays, the lions are the Christians. The lions shouldn't feel bad: I'd get indigestion, too, on that diet.

In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, I'll just clear the air and say it right at the top: the lion is Jesus. This may not make sense now, but trust me, the lion is Jesus. At least that's what Disney is banking on to guarantee its box office gross. (For once the word "gross" seems very appropriate.)

C.S. Lewis' epic fable is about four children who conquer their fears in an enchanted land. How religion figures into the story you will discover below, but know that Disney, through clever marketing, is promoting this movie to church organizations, thus robbing it of its freedom to cultivate fresh messages within its viewers. Instead of people curiously linking the lion to the Messiah on their own, they are having the metaphor hammered into their heads as if it were crown of thorns. It's a huge injustice to the film (but maybe not to C.S. Lewis, an openly spiritual author).

The film begins with four English children: Edmund, Peter, Lucy and Susan. They're displaced during German bombings on London during World War II. They end up in a scary castle in the country that could be home to a famous character from Lemony Snicket. The children eventually find a wardrobe (a fancy word for cabinet, yank) that leads into a snowy wonderland.

The pacing is rather slow as each child steps into the wardrobe to discover the kingdom of Narnia, but it's a magical sequence that begins to introduce the movie's many creatures, including a faun (a half-man/half-goat creature from Roman mythology) who befriends the tiniest child, Lucy. Later there will be a whole Noah-approved menagerie of animals to color the story: fighting rhinos, infantry cheetahs, centaurs, chariot-pulling polar bears and talking beavers.

One by one, the children enter the world and believe in its magic, and also the harsh reality: a white witch (Tilda Swinton) has frozen the land of Narnia and a rogue band of animals has begun to form an army to reclaim the land for goodness with the help of the chosen children. Yes, it's Star Wars, but with zoo animals.

And, as Obi-Wan Kenobi was to Star Wars, Aslan is to Narnia. Brave, valiant Aslan is a majestic lion (voiced by Liam Neeson), whose mane seems to dance without requiring wind. In the course of the movie, he is deified and revered, and also resurrected, which brings the messiah theme crashing into Narnia rather quickly.

Aslan, as a simple movie character, works rather well. He provides the gentle guidance to the children as they face war and the task of becoming warriors, and he narrates much of the story inside fair and just monologues. As a Christ figure, Aslan is a hard sell. Mainly because Narnia is a family film, one with messages that soar over its target audience's heads. Surely children won't see the religious subtext -- and if they do, they're likely to get bored thinking the movie is Sunday school. The only way little ones will do the math (Aslan = Jesus) is if their parents cheat and tell them the answer. And let's face it, children need not be confused with allegorical lion/Christ mumbo jumbo, especially considering the questions that might arise on trips to the zoo.

It's a shame that Christian communities are lining the film's pockets and using Christians to do it. Blame The Passion of the Christ. If Disney would just release Narnia without all the churchy fanfare we could write it off as a film. But now it's scripture, which is an entirely different medium.

At the very least, the film could have been as good as scripture to give it some validity. It definitely has its faults: the children are thrust into their dilemmas too quickly, the final battle sags in ways Lord of the Rings would never dream, and many of the makeup effects look cheap given the film's high-dollar budget.

In the end, though, it holds together fairly well, especially considering it's a family picture. Its marketing strategy aside, Narnia will entertain children, and rather enthusiastically so, I might add. The action is aplenty, danger is rife and the beasts fill every frame. It's a visual keeper, a trove of eye-catching delights that will tickle children of most ages.

If only Narnia were a secular land, one where churches dot the landscape for those who are interested to enter. With Disney pulling the strings, theaters become churches, audiences become congregations and Narnia is The Word.