Get Yourself a Oneway Ticket to Narnia!

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2005)

I'd say it got almost everything right. Of course nothings perfect But all they really had to get right was being faithful enough to capture the essence of the story, most importantly it's sense of heart, which it does well enough. These characters had a hell of a lot more going for them in the rooting department than most more morden movies of these recent years and it carry's the movie and any flaws through. If they'd tried to attempt anymore then they'd have entered the "trying to please everyone" zone of impossibility.
Somehow I found both the personality trates in Peter and Edmund and their character arcs rang true. Edmund's selfishness, the little brother who can't seem to do anything right, who must learn the error of his ways by bitter experience, forced to grow up fast and Peter's struggle to live up to his responsibilities, the boy forced to be something that he isn't certain he can be, the boy who must become the man of the family. I understand how that stuff must feel rather well. Each felt very natural, clearly the makers worked hard to get such performances out of these youngsters. I hear they even deliberately looked for kids who matched the character's persona's which obviously helped.
I liked that nobody was just morphed into a mighty hero, that they remained consistently grounded and humanised. Peter not loosing his sense of humour. I loved how the actor delivered his reply to "They come in numbers far greater than our own," "Numbers don't win a war" with simply a "No...but I bet they help." I'm very warm to the underdog hero who faces insane odds and who can laugh at them self and use humour as a defence no matter how grave the situation.
Perhaps the only slight criticism is that the girls on the other hand were somewhat more underused, well the older one anyway. Lucy was note worthy.
The voice work guys played an absolute blinder! Ray Winston ruled! That cranky little East-End beaver nearly stole the show! Dawn French served her purpose well as a good compliment to the great Ray.
Aslan the mighty wise old Lion didn't disappoint me either, he looked magnificent and voiced to a tea by the master of such roles, the legendary Liam Neeson. Ah the wonders of the CGI age eh?
The Villain front didn't let the side down neither. I digged the taunting wolf, always great tension when a Villain knows how to mess with the heroes insecurities, especially when it's the best kind of hero, a humanised underdog kind of hero like Peter, whom is bursting with that kind of vulnerability. This lead to some fairly decent built up tenstion and suspense.
That was one creepy as hell White Witch, those eyes, it was all in the eyes and of course her shining moment came in that one all important scene, the scene that if they'd got wrong, the hole movie would have fell to pieces, yep the infamous stone table scene. And boy was it powerful stuff, no easy feat considering it was a puppet! It's A PUPPET!... oh sorry, no I wasn't possessed by British comedian Brian Conery for a moment there, I was checking your paying attenstion and of course mean't...puppet/CGI Lion.
All in all, a film thats refreshingly as character driven as possible for a big epic blockbuster.