Great overall but acting was a letdown

Rating: 7/10 (13 December 2005)

This film is pretty good and kids will absolutely love it. Especially if they have read the Narnia books as I did ten years ago. Andrew Adamson did extremely well for his debut feature, but he did make a huge, huge mistake in casting chidren with no acting experience. The role of Lucy Pevinsey is really important to the film, so why would Adamson and co. not cast one of the thousands of child actors around who've been in front of cameras since they were in diapers? Georgie Henley is a cute kid, sure, but any kid can be a cute. The same can be said for William Moseley, he was a little too limp to really carry off a role like Peter. Tilda Swinton is absolutely perfect though. I'd have had nightmares about her if I'd seen this as a kid and thats the biggest compliment I can think of. There is some really good CGI going on here as well. Despite a whiff of unfulfilled potential, the first in the chronicles is definitely worth a trip to the theater.