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(Editor's note: Some of the rest of this story includes mild spoilers if you haven't read Voyage of the Dawn Treader.)

Keller is most concerned "that they get Aslan right" in Dawn Treader, and says she was mostly satisfied with what she saw and heard. "I'm glad the final interaction between Aslan and Lucy was there in its unadulterated entirety, because I consider that the pinnacle of the entire seven books." (Near the end of book, Lucy is sad that Aslan is sending her back to her world, and sobs, "How can we live, never meeting you?" Aslan assures Lucy that he's very much in her world, where he has "another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.")

Jerry Root, a Lewis expert and a professor at Wheaton College, agrees with Keller, saying if they don't get that scene right, "they might as well close up the shop and produce no more films, for they will not be Lewis' stories any more."

Lucy (Georgie Henley) takes a bow

Keller says that they got another critical scene right: The "un-dragoning" of Eustace, which many consider the highlight of the story. (In the book, the selfish boy Eustace turns into a dragon due to his greed; it is only through confession and penitence, and the Christ figure Aslan's help, that he is able to shed the dragon skin and become human again.) Keller says she learned that writers originally wanted Eustace, still in dragon form, to fight a sea monster and "earn" his return to human form. But she says Flaherty, a committed Christian, "put them straight that you don't earn grace, you receive it once you are humbled and aware of your need."

Flaherty told CT, "This book is the most theological of them all. There are more complex themes, particularly grace, that aren't easy to get right [in a movie]. We must've spent an entire day talking about grace, and the importance of showing that it can't be earned; it has to be given. This is something that Eustace can't do on his own; he has to ask Aslan to do it for him. I think it's a really powerful illustration of grace."

But Keller and others aren't entirely without their concerns. One was the curious decision to hire a professing agnostic, Apted, to direct the film. Though Apted's professional credentials were never in doubt—he has helmed a James Bond movie (The World Is Not Enough) a critically acclaimed documentary series (Seven Up through 49 Up), and several biopics (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, and Amazing Grace, the story of British abolitionist William Wilberforce)—some wondered if his agnosticism would prevent him from "getting" the spiritual and theological meat of the books.

Media analyst Mark Joseph, who did not attend the Narnia event but has closely followed the films, wrote in an online essay, "Saving Narnia," that the choice of Apted "compounded" the problems born in Prince Caspian. Joseph wrote that Apted showed that he was "out of touch with the types of fans who made up Narnia's base when he seemed to brag to reporters about gutting Amazing Grace … of its religion." Joseph wondered, "Does the director of a film with religious themes have to share those beliefs? Not necessarily. But just as the openly gay Gus Van Sant was a smart choice to direct Milk, a film about an openly gay man, as opposed to, say Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson, so it's probably just common sense that films such as Narnia or Amazing Grace are best directed by people who at the very least aren't ashamed of their religious heritage, or seem to exult in stripping the religion out of faith-based stories."

Flaherty addressed that concern: "Can an agnostic director get the deeper meanings of the book? The answer is yes, because this agnostic did. Our interest was always to find the best director, and without a doubt, Michael Apted was the best director for this."

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