A Dream Come True

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2005)

At the age of ten, I was given the first three books of "The Chronicles of Narnia", and it began for me a life time love affair with the magical world CS Lewis. To me, Narnia was the perfect fantasy world, and I wanted to go there to escape the horrors of my childhood. It helped me get through some of the worst times in my life, and to this day if any one asks me what my favorite book is I will always answer, "All of The Chronicles of Narnia".
Today, I am 40 years old, and I have waited some people's lifetimes for the perfect film version of the book. I have found it in my recent viewing of Mr. Adamson's wonderful film. Everything that I ever imagined unfolded before me on the screen.
This book is a nearly faithful rendition of the beloved story with only minor deviations here and there. These deviations, however, make no difference to me in my enjoyment of this work.
The CGI special effects were astounding. The illusions of James McAvoy as a faun and Shane Rangi as a centaur are incredible. The totally GCI characters are truly impressive. If there is any fault here it is that, like Gollum in LOTR, they are almost too perfect.
The young actors who played the Pevensie children, while they may be strangers to filming in a CGI environment, I never once felt that they were not playing as they should to the CGI characters. They give wonderful performances, particularly Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley. They are everything I imagined Edmund and Lucy to be.
Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is the perfect combination of ice and evil. The design of her castle is extraordinary. The costumes she wears are impressive. Her minions are perfectly ugly and evil.
The true spirit of CS Lewis' wonderful tale is here. While Lewis may have put Christian themes into this story the ones that he chose have universal appeal. The ideas of sacrifice, spiritual renewal or rebirth, and love of your fellow man are not the private privilege of Christianity. I consider myself an agnostic and have never considered this book to be Christian Propaganda. The film does not present the story that way either.
You can imagine then that I look forward to the filming by the team that produced this one to anymore volumes of the "Chronicles" that they choose to make.