Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (21 December 2005)

I am a die hard Narnia fan so I am bound to be a little critical, but I went to see this film with an open mind as possible.
Let me start by saying that the film doesn't even come close to the brilliant BBC series of some years ago, so if you watched and loved those you may be better off giving this film a miss and see if you can pick up a copy of the BBC version on DVD instead.
Positive points are the performances. I often find child actors a little too cutesy or unnatural, but there wasn't a moment I felt that during this film. Lucy Pevensie in particular was brilliant. Any stars I've given this are down to the cast.
Now the downers. This may not bother everyone, but the CGI effects were shoddy and inconsistent - as if the artists working on it had been comprised of a team of people who never met during the entire production. This was not quite as bad as the green/blue screen moments, however, which had all the artistry and subtlety of Peter Kay's Amarillo video. How on earth those scenes made the final cut, I'll never know. One particular scene has a painted backdrop which is similarly poorly finished, so it seems there were problems in many areas of production. It was like watching an unpolished version for a test audience - only it wasn't and we weren't.
Overall, I would not recommend this if clumsy continuity errors (of which there are too many to list here), poor attention to detail and bad computer work bother you. If not then the children's performances, Tumnus and Aslan will impress you and you may enjoy yourself. If you just adore the book and would love to see an on screen adaptation, try to get your mits on the BBC version.