Wonderful animations, pathetic acting.

Rating: 3/10 (10 October 2006)

I must admit in advance that I am not too big a fan of Disney. I enjoy most of their cartoons, and especially their collaborations with Pixar (Finding Nemo, the Incredibles) are among my favorite movies, though as soon as real actors get involved, I have always felt Disney was playing outside it's league.
This movie is a prime example of it.
The animations are superb. As are the outfits worn by the colorful creatures that inhabit Narnia. Visually, I'd give this movie 9/10.
However, the story was utter crap. I am not familiar with the original story by C.S. Lewis, and I'm sure it's a fun read, but what is presented in this movie is but a series of hollow cliché's, worn out adventure-movie sequences tied together with a very meager excuse for some background legend about some king who vanished for a hundred years (why?), the occasional referral to 'ancient magic' to excuse for unnecessary twists in the plot (without this 'ancient magic' actually giving body to the atmosphere. It's only used as a sort of 'deus ex magina' to justify stupid plot lines), and totally over-the-top relational issues between the siblings. The movie just overflows with melodrama, every character is a cliché to the point where it is just obnoxious, and especially the main characters made me feel sick. please! I cannot even begin to describe how poor these characters where written, which is only surpassed by how poorly they were executed! The casting was horrible (except for the little girl and some of the narnia-inhabitants), the acting utter disgrace. Not only do over half of all their actions (by whatever human actor that is) make no sense (there is simply no motivation for them other than the melodramatic effect.. especially the ice-queen is just .. dumb!), and all the acting that is in place lacks any conviction. The older boy supposedly growing from hesitation to bold courage, yet neither of these states come across, nor is the transition catalyzed properly (he just accidentally kills a bad guy, and all of a sudden is a fearless slayer of animated creates, even though there is not the least bit of warrior aura about this guy). The only thing convincing was the abundance of tears by the youngest girl, but than again, Disney specializes in that. Although again, over half of those were totally uncalled for.
This movie is good for kids. Wonderful even. Were I a 6-12 year old boy, I would have watched this movie 4 times a day for a week if I could. But for adults who actually prefer fantasy movies to be inspiring and have a captivating story, intriguing characters, all brought with proper pace and passion, skip this one. Seriously. They should have just made this an all animated feature.
3/10