I easily recommend it to all ages

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2005)

As quoted in the press notes...
"And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away from where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off...she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air..." With that, C.S. Lewis sends young Lucy Pevensie into the magical world of Narnia. Likewise, once the big screen version of the wardrobe materializes, moviegoers follow Lucy into this alternate universe.
That's the true beauty of Narnia - it isn't portrayed as just a figment of the children's imagination; it's a completely believable, imaginary world. C.S. Lewis never told the reader how he was supposed to perceive it; Lewis was content to leave a lot to the imagination. Even the final battle for Narnia is described in fewer than two pages.
And that's the true beauty of the film - it takes the source material and fills in the blanks that had previously been left to the reader's mind. Visualizing in your head the fight between Aslan's army and the witch's minions is a joy for the creative, but watching a massive battle involving centaurs, minotaurs, dwarfs, giants, and a wide variety of other mythical creatures is truly a sight to behold.
C.S. Lewis theorized that if a book is worth reading when you're five, then it needs to be equally worth reading when you're 50. The same holds for the movie - I gladly recommend this regardless of whether you're five or 50 or anywhere over, under, and in between.
What makes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so accessible is its focus on topics that we can all relate to in some form - betrayal, forgiveness, selfless sacrifice, family, and loyalty. For Christians, the allegory behind the story certainly gives the film more meaning as Aslan, the Christ figure, battles the Devil's representative - the witch. But those who aren't as spiritually inclined will find this to be a great epic story of a battle between good and evil. The spiritual parallels are easy to recognize, but they're never heavy-handed.
Fans of the book will notice that the movie has implemented some minor changes, and you may be puzzled by some curious exclusions (why was there no Giant Rumblebuffin?), but overall this is a faithful adaptation that should live up to and probably exceed your expectations. What is there not to like? The actors are great (particularly Tilda Swinton as the witch and the adorable Georgie Henley as Lucy), the CGI is remarkably impressive (Aslan looks very real!), the battle is genuinely exciting, the world of Narnia feels real, the creatures are given life without ever becoming cartoonish, and the moviegoer is treated to a two-hour vacation from whatever stress or hardships he or she may be enduring.
There aren't a whole lot of movies these days that completely suck me into their world and force me to concentrate on the characters and the story rather than on the actors that I'm watching. Tom Cruise will always be Tom Cruise, and Angelina Jolie will always be Angelina Jolie. But for two hours Tilda Swinton is the evil witch, Georgie Henley is a little girl whose reactions feel real and sincere, and Aslan feels like more than just an impressive piece of CGI.
This is exactly the kind of movie I want to see more of. Go see it. If you think you're too grown up to enjoy this and can't let your imagination get the best of you then perhaps it's time for you to, in the words of Todd Snider, grow back down.