Absolutely faithful to C. S. Lewis's vision.

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2005)

This film perfectly realized the book "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (The Chronicles of Narnia: the first chronicle). Even though I know the book by heart and know the mythology, history, and philosophy on which it is based, the film grasped me from the first moment and never let me go. After some time, perhaps the first half-hour, the tears were streaming down my face continually. The book is, of course, an allegory of the Christian myth. All the details were allegorized perfectly. Passages from the sacred scriptures of the Christians, and moments from the entire history of the Christian faith and culture, came continually into my mind as I watched the film. Here is an instance. When Peter is given his shield, the armorial bearing blazoned thereon is an emblem of Aslan. The emblem is red. Immediately into my mind leapt "In hoc signo vinces." The accompaniment of Aslan by Lucy and Susan, until he must go on alone, resonates beautifully with the versions of the story of the Garden of Gethsemane. Aslan's progression to the altar of sacrifice, his progressive stripping and humiliation, and the Witch's triumphant shout, "Behold the great cat," echoes perfectly "Ecce homo."