Deep Magic!

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2006)

While the dark recesses of many wardrobes are a mystery containing untold treasures and/or horrors, there is a particular wardrobe in a spare room that leads to the magical land of Narnia. A land where the White Witch (evil) has reigned for 100 years, but Aslan the Lion (good) is on the move. This is such a vast and beautiful world that an epic clash between good and evil is inevitable.
Set during World War II, the four Pevensie children are sent away from blitz-bombed London to the safety of Professor Kirke's country mansion. Peter and Susan are the elder children and stoically sensible and responsible. The youngest child, Lucy, is sunny and engaging. It is Edmund, desperately missing his father and smarting against the assumed authority of his older siblings, who has some hard lessons to learn about temptation and treachery.
Isolated and bored in the sprawling house, the children resort to playing hide and seek. Lucy hides in a wardrobe and stumbles into Narnia, a land frozen in the grip of winter and the evil Witch. This seemingly random event begins the fulfillment of a prophecy of biblical proportions. And the biblical themes that run through these Chronicles are undeniable.
The essence of Narnia is Deep Magic. Mythical creatures such as unicorns and griffins, mermaids and centaurs and even Santa Claus mingle with more modest birds, beavers, badgers and wolves. All these animals can talk and even the trees are listening. So who can be trusted? Definitely not the White Witch, with her guilty gifts of Turkish Delight. She is the epitome of evil, breathtakingly icy and chillingly ruthless. As for her followers, fortunately it does seem to be true that evil disfigures and deforms as they are the foulest collection of genetic mishaps we have ever seen.
On the other hand, Aslan the Lion is molten gold goodness, with a lion's courage and a true heart. His voice resonates with warmth and it can only be summer in his presence. His followers are a host of the most dazzling beings in Narnia, as well as a myriad of sharp-witted forest animals.
The Chronicles of Narnia incorporate CGI at its most seamless. Though for all the awesome scale, its beauty is in the details. Only four of the heroes are human and it is set in a vast, magical land, but this fantasy is warmly familiar. Following his first meeting with Lucy, Mr Tumnus the Faun says that she "made me feel warmer than I've felt in 100 years". This is how we felt about our first trip to Narnia and we can't wait to return.