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THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
Review by Mark Walters
Just about anyone around my age read the book as a kid. Some may have even read it for school. With the amazing popularity of THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies, Hollywood was desperate to find the next book or book series to bring to the big screen. The natural choice became THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. Director Andrew Adamson, who had tremendous success with the SHREK films, won the job to direct. It's almost being marketed as a "LORD OF THE RINGS for kids", and with good reason.
BIGFANBOY.com score - On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I give THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE a 9. Visit the official Disney THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE website by clicking here.
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The
film begins during World War II in Europe. After a frightening bombing
run hitting close to their home, the Pevensie kids are put on a train by their
mother to be taken in by a home that hosts evacuees. The youngest child,
Lucy (Georgie Henley), has the hardest time saying goodbye. Her brother
Edmund (Skandar Keynes) feels their mother is wrong for what she's doing, and
if their father had been there this never would've happened, plus he feels his
siblings are an overbearing burden. Susan Pevensie (Anna Popplewell) is
consistently overcautious and negative about everything, while Peter (William
Moseley) wants to become a father figure to the group. They are picked
up by Mrs. MacReady (Elizabeth Hawthorne), a rather strict housekeeper, who
takes them to a large house owned by the reclusive Professor Kirke (Jim
Broadbent). Things look rather boring and bleak in their new
surroundings, and the kids pass their time playing games like hide and seek.
During one of these moments, Lucy stumbles upon a large ornate wardrobe, which
she chooses to hide in. Stepping further back between the fur coats
inside she falls into a snow covered forest. Apparently there's an
entire world inside the wardrobe called Narnia, filled with magical creatures
and exotic locations. Lucy quickly meets a half-man half-fawn named Mr.
Tumnus. The cowardly fawn takes her home for tea, and explains that
there is an evil witch who controls Narnia, and that she demands all humans be
brought to her immediately. Hoping to save Lucy, Tumnus guides her back
to where she arrived, and warns her to stay away from Narnia. Once Lucy
returns, she tries to tell the other kids what she found. But they don't
believe her, chalking it up to a young child's imagination. Soon Edmund
finds the entrance, and upon arriving in Narnia is met by the aforementioned
witch. Not knowing the details, Edmund falls for her charm, and she
carefully manipulates him into bringing his siblings to her. It isn't
long before the entire group of kids wind up in Narnia. They're met by a
talking beaver, who explains the dangers of this mysterious world. He
also speaks of a king named Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson), who plans to fight
the witch. It seems the kids' arrival is part of a prophecy. But
when Edmund betrays his family and heads to the witch's lair, Peter, Susan and
Lucy must go to Aslan for help. Now they must decide what matters most,
and whether or not they have the courage to stay and fight.
This
is one of those films that makes you wish you were a kid again. Where
THE LORD OF THE RINGS thrilled adults, this film will reach out to kids
effectively, and become one of those movies they'll want to watch over and
over again. The first hour is a bit slow, establishing the main
characters, and they're personal feelings. But once the children arrive
together in Narnia, things get pretty good. The child actors are fairly
solid. Skandar Keynes and Anna Popplewell are particularly good,
especially Skander, who despite his lack of prior acting experience, comes
across very convincing. Georgie Henley has that necessary wide-eyed look
about her that works well in the scenes of wonderment, though I'm sure it was
somewhat difficult for someone so young to appropriately convey all the
emotions and reactions required in a film like this. Perhaps the least
impressive was William Moseley, who despite his leader role just never seemed
completely right in certain scenes. Maybe it's his youth, or maybe it's
that he's trying to hard to be serious, but there was something that never
quite seemed to click acting-wise with him. Tilda Swinton is pretty
intimidating as the evil Queen, despite her occasionally obvious bad makeup.
I think kids will love to hate her, so she's successful in that regard. But
hey, that's not the reason you go to see a movie like this. It's the
special effects, and man oh man, they don't disappoint. Every animal,
and I mean EVERY animal, in this movie talks. The CGI effects are
stunning, particularly with Aslan the lion. We may still be several
years away from CGI actors taking over, but after seeing the effects used for
this film, animal actors may soon be out of a job.
The whole movie builds up to a big climactic battle between the witch's
army and Aslan's army. It takes almost two whole hours before that
battle begins, and it doesn't last incredibly long, but boy is it good.
Director Andrew Adamson has proven himself to be more than just a special
effects master. The man knows how to create some serious emotion using
those effects, and directs the actors like he's been doing it for years.
Is he the next Peter Jackson? Maybe, though he started bigger and better
than Jackson did, so wanting to build from here may be a tad more difficult.
I'm definitely interested to see what he can produce next. There are
moments in this film where I honestly got welled up, all the time thinking to
myself, "These aren't even real animals!!" That's the sign of an
effective film. I think it's safe to say this movie will do well, and
Disney and Walden Media will be making the six sequels they hoped for.
The question is, like HARRY POTTER, can we continue to watch these kids
on the big screen without it seeming weird the older they get? I guess
if they effects stay consistent, none of that will matter. I miss my
youth....
