the movie, Chronicles of Narnia, is based on the story written by
Christian apologetical writer C.S.Lewis, who is an acquaintance of
Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings.
Narnia is a story about a magical world, in which animals can talk. The
story contains many Christian themes. For example, it talks about
the "sons of Adam" and "daughters of Eve". Also, the lion Aslan, is the
creator and saviour. The story is made up of seven parts, and The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first part of the series.
The production of the movie is seen as a case for christian popular
culture (as the Australian media reported). The story of the Lion
enlisting the help of men (or children) in the fight against the Witch
is unmistakenly "christian". However, I find that these stories
resemble the Buddhist Jataka tales very much, wherein the Bodhisatta is
an animal who help and talk to humans or other animals. I wonder if
authors like C.S.Lewis and Tolkien were in any way directly influenced
by the Jataka Tales or inspired by Arabic sources, especially the
Arabic Nights which was in turned influenced by Indian (Hindu and
Buddhist) sources.