The Chronicles Of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe [2005]

Director (and co-screenwriter) Andrew Adamson, a veteran of the Shrek franchise, knows his way around a fantasy-based adventure story, and he wisely keeps the story moving when it could easily become bogged down and tiresome. Narnia is, of course, a Christian allegory and the symbology is definitely there (as it should be, otherwise it wouldn't be the story Lewis wrote), but audiences aren't knocked over the head with it, and in the hands of another director it could easily have become pedantic. The focus is squarely on the children and their adventures. The four young actors are respectable in their roles, especially considering the size of the project put on their shoulders, but it's the young Georgie Henley as the curious Lucy who stands out. This isn't a film that wildly succeeds, and in the long run it won't have the same impact as the Harry Potter franchise, but it is well done, and kids will get swept up in the adventure. Note: Narnia does contain battle scenes that some parents may consider too violent for younger children. --Dan Vancini

Then "Lord of the Rings" came and went, leaving some pretty big shoes to fill, as far as fantasy films go. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" doesn't quite fit the shoes, but it comes a lot closer than any other movie has.

In Andrew Adamson's adaptation, C.S. Lewis's classic fantasy novel comes alive with remarkable fidelity, sparkling special effects, and some truly excellent acting by almost everyone concerned. If "Lord of the Rings" was stern older brother Peter, then this movie is Lucy -- bright, swift and thoroughly charming.

With WW II raging, the four Pevensie children are sent to the countryside, at an eccentric professor's mansion. But during a game of hide-and-seek, little Lucy (Georgie Henley) hides inside a wardrobe -- and stumbles into a wintry wilderness, with a faun she befriends. Alas, her brothers and sisters don't believe her -- but they don't know that Edmund (Skandar Keynes) has also gone through, and befriended a sinister, beautiful Witch (Tilda Swinton).

Eventually all four end up going through the wardrobe, but but they soon find that the Witch is hunting for them, in fear that they will fulfil an ancient prophecy. But Edmund has run off to join the Witch. And so the remaining three must join up with Aslan (Liam Neeson), the leonine god-king of Narnia. But the price for victory against the Witch may be too high.

Since "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" is labelled both a kids' book and a Christian fantasy, it's easy to get put off by the description of it. Don't be. Director Andrew Adamson ("Shrek" and "Shrek 2") has obviously given this his whole heart and soul, and it has the right mixture of majesty and humor that a film like this needed.

And Adamson does a spectacular job. The the taut race across a frozen river, the bombing of London, tea with the faun Tumnus, and even the cameo by Father Christmas (who gets a medieval makeover) -- all of these come to life with remarkable skill and grace, but with respect for its audience's intelligence. The make-or-break scene is Aslan stalking to the stone table, and the horrifying sacrifice scene that follows does justice to Lewis' novel.

But Adamson doesn't let it get overinflated on its own ego. When Edmund tells his horse, "Whoa, boy!" it retorts peevishly, "My NAME is Philip!"; elsewhere, the beavers snipe at each other like an old married couple. Those moments of lightness -- and giving Aslan a sense of humor -- keep the film from seeming self-conscious.

And of course, the special effects. WETA workship deserves an award (it's been nominated for a few) for the amazing CGI, ranging from goat-legged Tumnus to the lion Aslan, who looks almost real. They are especially good in battle scenes, which are startlingly savage and brutal, but filled with outstanding moments, such as a centaur leaping over the Witch and nearly beheading her.

Young Georgie Henley is probably the most capable actress here, conveying misery, awe, delight, childish glee and sorrow. All this from a small child, when a lot of adult actors can't manage that much. Skandar Keynes and Anna Popplewell turn in good performances as Edmund and Susan. Swinton and William Moseley (Peter) start off rather woodenly, but they both blossom when the four arrive in Narnia.

Though Lewis was reportedly against a live-action adaptation of the Chronicles, it's hard to imagine him having a problem with this rapid-fire, sparkling adaptation. (And stay for the credits for an extra surprise...)


Art in Motion   May 14, 2006
Plom de Nume (Wolverhampton, United Kingdom)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful

This wonderful movie gives us back the "special effects film" proper. Here's hoping it helps to wean younger viewers (and older ones who should know better) away from the "might-as-well-be-a-cartoon" overkill of the Matrix and other CGI-fests - even Jackson's Kong has, for me, one dinosaur-chase too many - and back to the mythopoeic splendours of true cinema artists like Ray Harryhausen. Setting aside the technical verisimilitude of 2001 and the zooming rockets of Star Wars, it's no coincidence that the previous benchmark for really special special effects was "Jason and the Argonauts"; bringing mythology to life - that is, putting real performers in the frame with mythical beasts - is the modern age's equivalent of Ovid and the rest doing it in narrative poetry. With Narnia, we finally get a worthy contemporary inheritor of those legacies, cinematic and literary.

Of course, one of the secrets of a great "special effects film" is that the wizardry is complemented by excellence in other areas. Narnia gives us, for a start, some genuinely good child actors (English ones, to boot!) for our protagonists. The young performers here manage to convey emotion and just the right level of anachronism to chime with the story's wartime setting, without resort to jarring Harry Potterish bum notes of trendiness (or that series' often wooden, school-play delivery of the juvenile dialogue). Georgie Henley in particular is absolutely pitch-perfect in her depiction of little Lucy's delight, terror, sadness, and, above all, innocent wonder - the perfect "Disney kid," in fact (and much, much better than that brand might imply).

The Narnia grown-ups are also fantastic, similar streaks ahead of the Potter adult rota: compare James Cosmo's brief and brilliant Father Christmas here with the Dumbledores of Harris and Gambon, for example. Better still, put Tilda Swinton's subtly terrifying White Witch against any of cinema's fear-queens and she's going to come out at the top. James McAvoy's faun is a touching demonstration of that actor's striking versatility.

Meanwhile, on the voice-over front, we have Ray Winstone's delightful Mister Beaver (paired with a Dawn French thankfully restrained from making this character "her own" (i.e. not funny)), a great, appropriate fox from Rupert Everett and many other fine vocalisations, culminating in a gloriously leonine sound-portrait of Aslan from Liam Neeson.

The story is already established as a modern classic; the screenplay is pretty faithful. Pacing, cinematography (a glorious colour palette is on view throughout) and music are all fine, too. But the breath is most taken, of course, by the beautifully-integrated effects. When I spoke of the voice-over performances just now, you have to see what amazing justice is done to the real actors by their animated counterparts (and vice-versa). Facial expressions, body-language, authentic animal behaviour and anthropomorphic adaptations are welded in magnificent style, convincing and entertaining at the same time. The wolves look as real as the centaurs; the demons are as alive as the cheetahs; the gryphon (the gryphon!) is somehow truer to "life" than, say, any of the Black Beauties we've seen filmed. The phoenix is astounding. In true Jason style, we also get a harpy, taunting Aslan on his way to his execution.

The masterpiece in this gallery of wonders, indeed, has to be Aslan; the lion is real; super-real; moving just for being so beautifully realised, before we even come to the deeper emotion of his sacrifice. This scene, if you were in any doubt before, convinces us that we're watching art in motion. I haven't seen Bosch paintings move before, but this riot of grotesques would grace any canvas of his, or Duhrer's. Clive Barker would probably recognise the more hellish dimension of the scene, too. Tilda Swinton is at her most chilling here; and the quasi-religious pathos outdoes Mel Gibson's sadistic little go at it in "The Passion of the Christ" by many miles. It's at least as horrific as, and much more touching than, Edward Woodward's exit in the Wicker Man; cinematically no less significant, either - this is, at most levels, a "children's" film (and definitely an "effects" film), so the compliment to intelligence and maturity is much appreciated: yes, we can respond to sacrifice without the conventional frameworks, thank you.

In every respect, Narnia is one of cinema's genuine and precious works of art. It's brilliant; you should see it. And if it's going to be classed as an effects, fantasy and/or kids' film, then it has to be installed at the top of all those categories. For my money, though, it should be put firmly in the classic ranks; and actually rated as one of the finest of all time.