The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005) - Movie Details

C.S. Lewis' timeless adventure THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter -- in World War II England who enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of ‘hide-and-seek' in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns,...

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Movie Review

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the latest in a string of fantasy book adaptations brought to life, and its success is almost guaranteed. Following the domination of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the "Harry Potter" movies, "Narnia" was the most logical next and overdue series, even if author C.S. Lewis never wanted his books to be made into a live-action film. Full movie review »

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Anonymous says:

January 5, 2006

Almost as good as Lord of the Rings but not enough violence

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Anonymous says:

December 21, 2005

This could-have-been, would-be movie is instead a wannabe, namely, a Lord of the Rings wannabe as one critic rightly put it (and usually I pay no attention to the sniveling, whining, sneering critics). Now, imitating Lord of the Rings is not a bad move (after all C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were friends and colleagues and in the same writer's group and thus privileged to rip each other off freely and shamelessly--and they did rip each other off, with fantasy stories sharing many elements in common). But the imitation should be a good one, not a half-assed one. Of course, why should we expect the same of the movie version of Narnia as we expect of the movie version of LOTR? The literary version Lord of the Rings has greater power, and epic breadth and depth than The Chronicles of Narnia, which is a children's story, that appeals to adults and serious readers of literature but not to the excent that Tolkien's story does. Yet that does not excuse the lack of high professionalism in the filming of Narnia, which could still have employed the high-quality special effects, strong acting, and the exacting high professional standards displayed by Peter Jackson in the filming of LTOR and thus made a great film that stood on its own. There are powerful themes in Narnia, especially with its magical world and Christian allegorical elements. The story could have touched me nearly as deeply and emotionally as LOTR, but it did not. Although some real talent went into the making of Narnia (in fact, some of the SAME talent as went into LOTR) the talent was not fully utilized.

Does this make Narnia a BAD movie? No, it is not. It is still a good movie but far from a great one. It lacks the edge, great acting, the pacing, the emphasis on tone and mood that characterized Peter Jackson's work on LOTR. Still, there are some things to be said about Narnia: the interaction between live actors and animated characters is reasonably well executed and the battle scenes are very well done. The Witch is a well developed character and her evil minions, while no match for Sauron's, are truly menacing. The child actors perform commendably, especially in the roles of Lucy, who is vibrant, and Edmund, who is sufficiently moody and a little of a brat before getting his well-deserved come upance. Aslan, as an animated character is magnificent, but lacks the emotional depth and power that I would want in such a pivotal character. The faun, Thomas, is very well acted but the ears look obviously fake, a far cry from the elven ears of Elrond & Co., and woolly feet of the hobbits in Peter Jackson's LOTR. I also like how the movie opens with the London blitz, with its parallels to the war ultimately fought in Narnia.

My most strenuous objection is actually not anything the film-makers did--it is in the ignorant depiction of wolves as evil. I would expect more from a well-educated and civilized man as C.S. Lewis. Having spent sufficient enough time in the wilderness to be around wolves I know better--your average wolf is little more than a glorified puppy dog who happens to be adept at bringing down an elk. But I have also seen wolves shy away from an approaching human like a scared bunny. The real wolf is not the beast of waste and desolation depicted in Old World superstition and legend. While this diatribe is getting little far afield from a film review, I still want to take this opportunity to speak out against the perpetuation of such malarkey as this false, reprehensible image of the wolf that persists to this day, a day in which we should all know better.

Getting back to the film, my bottom line is that anyone doing fantasy in the post-LOTR era of film-making had better live up to the standard set by Peter Jackson (who for some mysterious reason followed up LOTR with King Kong, a movie I have no reason to want to see despite the critical aclaim it is receiving). If they cannot live up to Mr. Jackson's standarads, they maybe should consider remakes of Caddyshack and not try to tackle such a demanding project. Putting LOTR and Narnia to film is not for the faint-hearted, and in the latter case the film-maker was almost there but finally not up to it.

In short, Narnia makes for a good bedtime story--I recommend waiting for the DVD, popping it in at bedtime and falling asleep to it--ZZZZZ! Sweet dreams, mates!

Grade: B-

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Anonymous says:

December 12, 2005

What a snooze! I should have loved this movie, but, ohmigosh - could it have been any drier or slower. Please don't make more, unless you can make a good movie - not just a book adaptation! And please... drop the religious angle. It's barely there - I find more religion in Star Wars! Just because a character dies and comes back, doesn't make him JC!

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Anonymous says:

December 9, 2005

It was a very well done movie and i appreciate the way they did it. I will be very honest with you people it is a religious movie. It is based on the Sacrifices of Christ through an aligory way. Well done, Well done!

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Anonymous says:

July 14, 2004

I read the book and watched the movie.I loved it
it was great.It was funny and sad at the same time and
it was one of the greatest things i saw.
it was aweasome

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