A rushed and breathless adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2016)

My main problem with this film is that I saw the BBC miniseries when I was a kid – and it made a BIG impression on me. These days, I look back on the schlocky effects and the overdone acting with a kind of nostalgia. I half want to see it again, to see how it holds up, and half want to leave it in the past, where it's probably better.
This film tells the same story, for the modern generation. It's made in the mould of LORD OF THE RINGS and HARRY POTTER, and targets the same demographic. Intricacies of plot and character are done away with in favour of a chase plot that lasts the entire movie. Actually, that's not entirely true. The first half hour (the best) is a great set up – wonderful acting from the kids, good costumes, cool effects. The last half hour is a massive CGI animated battle sequence a la RETURN OF THE KING, and I loved it a lot – fast-paced action through and through, with minotaurs, griffins, monsters and dwarfs all fighting it out to the death. The middle hour isn't so good – we're stuck with cheesy talking beavers and some poorly animated wolf villains in a chase-capture-chase-capture sequence that seems almost interminable. We don't know much more about the kids by the end than we do by the beginning, except that Edmund is spoilt, Peter is kingly, Lucy cute and Susan is plain annoying!
On the plus side, overall the effects are great, and there are some good voice actors in the cast – Liam Neeson makes a fine Aslan. Others, too are surprisingly great – old timer James Cosmo as Father Christmas, James McAvoy as Mr Tumnus, Jim Broadbent as the Professor, and of course creepy Tilda Swinton as the Ice Queen. If it hadn't been all so rushed and breathless, I would have enjoyed this a lot more, but it still makes for amiable viewing.