A Nutshell Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2005)

This is one of seven books by CS Lewis on the fantasy world of Narnia. My earliest recall of the story was an animated cartoon, where 4 children chanced upon a wardrobe which transported them to a medieval-fantasy ice world ruled by an evil witch.
The introductory scene might confuse audiences that their watching Band of Brothers, though the German blitz over London is a sight to behold. Father Pevensie has gone off to fight in the war, and Mother Pevensie decided to pack the 4 Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, to the countryside to seek safe havens. They get to live with Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent in an extremely underutilized role), and the youngest of them all, Lucy, discovers the Wardrobe in one of the mansion's rooms.
The children bicker a lot, and through their Narnia adventures, learn about the importance of family and cooperation. Disbelieving Lucy at first, the rest got introduced to the wardrobe soon enough, and thus begin their stay in Narnia only after an hour into the movie (Yes, it takes that long before something decent happens on screen). Put under an icy curse, Narnia awaits the arrival of 2 sons of Adam and 2 daughters of Eve to deliver it from the clutches of the evil White Witch (Tilda Swindon, perhaps the only human form in Narnia).
But first, the children have to learn to make sense of the gifts bestowed upon them by Father Christmas, as well as to seek out Aslan, the mystical (speaking) lion, voiced by the regal Liam Neeson, in yet another mentor-like role after this years Kingdom of Heaven and Batman Begins. Yes, he's a good choice, but used too often it becomes deja-vu.
The talking animals became the talk of the town amongst some critical circles, but I say, give it a break. There are talking lions, beavers, wolves, foxes, etc, whose lips move in sync with their impeccable English, that I'm sure will sell many merchandise, probably soft toys.
While the cinematography is beautiful, somehow, familiarity with the source material brought about a monotone feel to the narrative. You'd know what will happen next, and the way this movie is delivered, there isn't much of a crescendo or scenes to excite. Shrek director Andrew Adamson should have known better, but opted for the safe and boring route.
The acting by the animals surpassed their human counterparts. The four Pevensie children are excruciating painful to watch. Their acting's very contrived and forced, and I wonder if there could be other worthy contenders amongst those who auditioned. The pixel-creations of the animators gave the animals more range than the 4 kids. Tilda Swindon looked evil throughout, but that's about it. Somehow her androgynous role as Gabriel in Constantine was way better than her role here as the resident witch.
The highlight is probably the much talked about, effects laden war scene, but from scenes in the trailer, there isn't much else to add. Already spoilt by mega war scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Chronicles doesn't go one up against what audiences already experienced, safe to substitute Uruk-hais and various Orcs with animals and mythical creatures like the centaurs. Lacking intensity throughout the battle, I was taking stock of which animal was on whose side, like the polar bears and white tigers on the side of the White Witch, and the mass of centaurs on Aslan's.
Don't get me started on the religiousness and the classification that this film is "Passion of the Christ" for kids. If you subscribe to that, you'll believe anything. I think one must have read too much into the major sacrificial and resurrection scene. There is hardly any blood spilt, nor is there any major bloody torture scene to rival Mel Gibson's picture. Just because this scene is similar to Christ's resurrection, or the theme of the coming of the messiah(s), or the betrayal scene makes one label this movie as such, is stretching it a bit too far. It's a children's movie/story, for crying out loud, so just leave it as such.
Will this movie make money? Sure, on the fact that it's an event movie. Chronicles of Narnia built its hype, but didn't offer anything new in terms of special effects, and was weighted down by mediocre acting and a plain, bland narrative. Should there be another movie based on the books, let's hope it betters the first one.