The Lord of the Weak...

Rating: 2/10 (27 February 2006)

To compare this to Lord Of The Rings would be wrong because as far as comparisons go this pales. Comparing this to Labyrinth or Krull would be fairer.
Where LOTR had strong characters and deep story threads we get some of the weakest child-actors ever in a movie perfectly suited to the least demanding 10 year old.
Where LOTR had a sense of dread and darkness, Narnia gives us no more menace than an overacting Tilda Swinton and some not very well realized cgi wolves.
Where LOTR gave us a world that seemed real and lived in Narnia gives us the castle from Walt Disney World and a land too perfectly groomed. Where LOTR gave us heroes to believe in, Narnia makes so many missteps that we care little about the fates of the characters before us.
I loved the Narnia books as a child, but I've come to a realization that they're children's books. They haven't grown with me as an adult unlike the Harry Potter series for instance which have cleverly grown darker with every new release as its dedicated audience gets older. The Narnia stories are simple stories, tho they do possess great moments of pathos which unfortunately weren't realized very well in the visualisation. Witness Aslans sacrifice as a huge missed opportunity for the viewer to connect with the journey. Because they are simple children's stories we know that the world won't be as gritty & dirty as the world of Middle Earth, but we're disappointed still when we see it.
While the books may still retain a sense of wonder, this movie does nothing to convey it. LOTR set the bar extremely high for fantasy movies, Narnia attempts to lower it back to where it was again.
In one word: Drivel.