Into the Wardrobe

BTW, I finished TSC with my daughter and in one of the latter chapters, the faun Oruns makes it quite clear that to ride a centaur is an honor indeed. Something he had never heard of before and, indeed, never happened again.

If they put those kids on centaurs in the movie, I'll be mad. It just shows a blatant lack of respect for something so obvious in the books. It's not just a passing notion, it's something mentioned and made emphasis of. It won't be right.

I think people often confuse the issue whenever this discussion comes up...

After that came the main body of the army: men on ordinary horses, men on Talking Horses (who didn't mind being ridden on proper occasions, as when Narnia went to war). --HHB, Ch. 12

I think it's pretty obvious that there are exceptions where people ride talking horses at great need. Yes, since Narnia was at war with the White Witch, it might indeed be okay for Edmund to ride "Philip." Yes, Jill and Eustace ride a centaur in SC. Tirian rides a talking unicorn in LB. Yes, there are rare exceptions. But that is not the issue...

The issue is weather or not this is clear in the film. Any non-reader watching the LWW film would think that talking horses are often ridden in Narnia and it's no big deal. In other words, that talking horses are basically pets just like normal horses. In the books, talking beasts and humans are equals.

It's not just that the the idea of talking beasts and humans being equals was not in the film. It's that they included moments that totally communicated exactly the opposite!

Here is kind of an extreme example: I don't think they made it clear that Aslan is a supernatural being, but that doesn't necessarily bother me. But if Aslan turned to the camera and said "I am not a supernatural being," that would really bother me!

So, I don't mind that they didn't discuss the idea that talking horses are ridden only at great need. The problem is that they have two moments that communicate exactly the opposite!

The solution to this problem is very simple: Cut out 5 seconds of the film.