Unique, enthralling, and beautifully realized.

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2005)

There is much I could say in praise of this movie, but I won't repeat what others have already said.
One of its best features, for viewers of all ages, is that it doesn't condescend to children. Charming as it was, SHREK -- from the same director -- did not expect children to handle much beyond a few familiar fairy-tale staples. THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE immerses them in a world wholly different from anything an American child knows: WWII England; the clothes, settings, and language of the place and time; Turkish delight, centaurs, even the "wardrobe" (which today would be called an armoire) and its mothballs. Many filmmakers wouldn't have touched this tale unless they could transpose it into contemporary America and either change or explain its alien elements. They wouldn't trust children to "get it."
But, to children, all the world is new. They are ready, nay, delighted to enter into a wondrous, magical world and take it on its own terms. What they don't understand doesn't matter. What matters is wonder. The creators of this film trust their audience. The result is more thrilling than any dumb-downed, words-of-one-syllable version would have been.
And the film is beautifully imagined. Most of us probably don't appreciate what it takes to adapt such a richly envisioned world to film: what to cut out and how to fill in what the author didn't describe. This movie succeeds remarkably. Its Narnia is true to C.S. Lewis and should be equally enthralling to viewers who have never heard of either.
If the idea of cheetahs, minotaurs, children in medieval armor, and other unlikely creatures rushing together into high-stakes battle intrigues you -- if you've never grown too old for wonder -- this movie is for you.