DuracellEnergizer said:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

For example, I just can't get emotionally invested in Aslan's sacrifice to save Edmund's life, since - as He is literally just Christ in another form - I already know He's gone through death once before, and it was a helluva lot more demeaning and brutal the first time around, so there's nothing really at stake here.

I'm an atheist and I still love those books! I've always liked taking The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as an allegory rather than a literal Aslan actually is Jesus visiting another universe interpretation.

But either way, not sure why that should ruin it or leave nothing at stake... It is just a kids fantasy story. A really fun one, IMHO.

Also, I just can't buy into the idea that a bunch of average kids could take up arms and fight like professional soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and actually hold their own in such a short period of time without any real training. I know that both examples are faithful to the book itself - which I enjoyed - but it just doesn't translate well to screen for me.

Lol, I think maybe you watch way too many movies at way too great of a frequency. You should probably come up for air occasionally. Again, the genre is children's fantasy, it features a cast of talking animals and English speaking mythical creatures from folklore around the world, you have to suspend your belief just a little bit.

When you were a kid didn't you ever run out into the woods with a stick for a sword and spend the day pretending you had just stepped into some other realm where you instantaneously became a great swordsman and held your own against goblins, trolls, and enemy warriors? That was the sort of thing being a kid was about for me, and part of the reason why I'll always have a soft spot for Narnia, they felt so genuine as kids books. They told the sort of stories I imagined myself in as a kid, and so hit quit close to home in capturing my imagination.