The whole family went to see The Chronicles of Narnia today and we all loved it. The story just captures my heart, and some of the parallels to the Gospel story are great to see. Nate had asked me how Lewis wrote the book, so I did some research and found the following on Wikipedia:

Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument, then collected information about child psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out 'allegories' to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way. It all began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord.

Apparently, there's been a fair amount of debate in some circles on whether or not this story truly is allegorical. Here's what Lewis said:

If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair represents despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, 'What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?' This is not allegory at all.

Guess not. Regardless of where your faith's at, I think there are some universal themes in the movie of sacrifice and redemption that hit everyone at a deep level, and point to an ultimate truth inside of each of us, whether we realize it or not.