I agree with waggawerewolf27. I think Lucy's beauty spell incident was well done and fairly true to the book(aka:non-humanistic). She sins by using the spell(though she had used a different spell in the book, she had similar reasoning:sinful thoughts), Aslan corrects her, and she repents. Also, telling Gael to be herself could just as easily mean to be the person God intended for her to be. When we sin, we go against our own original, sinless nature(pre-fall) and God's original plan for us. To be ourselves in the truest form would therefore mean to turn away from sin and rely on God, as we were created to do.

It would have been a very sweet message if it had been made clear that they should be the person Aslan intended them to be. But unfortunately, through most of the story, it came off as more of a message of "Be yourself because YOU are GREAT." Which is fine from a worldly point of view, when it comes to raising self-esteem and all that. But it's untrue from a Christian point of view. The goal of a Christian is not to have "high self-esteem". The goal of Christians is to realize how imperfect they are, that they can do nothing without Christ, and not to try to "be themselves", but to change themselves, coming closer to what God intends them to be.

Unfortunately, the movie seemed more focused on the self-esteem issue, and trying to get the kids to realize that they already ARE GREAT, and that they should realize that. "Extroadinary things happen to extraodinary people"? (Ah, so I guess Christ died for us because we were so extraordinary...) It even has Reep saying he hopes he can earn the right to go to Aslan's country. And he does! Because that country was made for "noble hearts like his". I can just hear C.S. Lewis turning over in his grave.

~Riella