Engaging adventure film

Rating: 7/10 (9 April 2006)

Fine adventure film based on C. S. Lewis novel about two brothers and two sisters who magically enter a land where they must join forces with a lion king to fight an evil queen. The unknown actors who play the children are all quite capable without trying to be too cute. Swinton is perfect as the cold-blooded ice queen. The director keeps the story moving along at a good pace, as we are introduced to strange characters such as talking beavers and creatures that are half-horse/half-man. There may be some theological undertones but the movie, to its credit, does not dwell on them. Ultimately, however, the story gets pretty absurd, specially with the events concerning the lion.