I'll be honest, I would have been very, significantly disappointed about these changes until recently...that said, I still don't necessarily aprove of them, but there are some things that have put my mind at ease about these changes:
(1) The first reason I am at ease about the changes is because of what I've seen of Aslan and Lucy - they appear to be more like they are in the books, in the scenes I've seen of them - Aslan seems to have much greater authority, and Lucy's faith seems much more steadfast. I recall seeing recently a scene where Lucy reminds Peter, she says "Or have you forgotten who
really defeated the White Witch?" That just stood out as grabbing the heart of the book...and the scene where Lucy meets Aslan puts my mind at ease too.
(2) Doug Gresham's approval of the movie even with the changes - even though he did express (during the making of the film) his disapproval of them.
(3) In the book, at the end when it's revealed that Peter and Susan are never to come back to Narnia (the old Narnia), I can understand why Susan doesn't - her attitude throughout the book is one unnecessarily bound in fear and unbelief, which appears to me to subside only a very little when they meet Aslan - I can somewhat understand why she's not to come back to Narnia...but as for Peter, I'm more curious about, apart from a minor leadership error, he still seems just as faithful as ever. I think in the movie his apparent decreasing of faithfulness can work as a positive when they come to filming
The Last Battle.
I'm reminded of Aslan's words at the end of VDT when he says that they were brought to Narnia so that they would know Him there a little, but so they would know Him (His other name) better in our world. When we read of Peter in LB in Tirian's vision, I think it's pretty clear he has learned to trust more in Aslan (and His other name
) in our world since his last visit to Narnia. He has far greater authority in that book than in any book he was in before - in my opinion.
(4) Finally, one of the videos I've seen of the new movie is the Cinema Judge video of Prince Caspian behind the scenes, and I was struck by that 22min video that whilst there are some significant changes that we've heard about, in the film of PC, I noticed in that Cinema Judge video that they would appear to have more lines direct from the book than in the previous movie - that in itself makes me feel much more at ease, even with those changes to Peter and Susan's characters.
Just some thoughts...