Spoilers

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2005)

The first half of the movie was great, except for a few unnecessary shots. I was worried how they were going to handle Mr. Tumnus' attempted abduction of Lucy without making him seem like a molester, but the actor had the right stuff and managed to make the scene work. Lucy's meeting with Mr. Tumnus under the lamppost is one of my favorite parts in the book (no moralizing, just magic) and is probably one of the best scenes in the movie.
The Beavers were wonderfully realized. They're warm human characters and the voice acting was appropriate (although the Cockney threw me off at first). I didn't like Maugrim quite so much. He looked like a run of the mill wolfdog when he should've looked like an epic foe, and his voice was distracting. I wish they'd borrowed the wolf from The Neverending Story.
My interest flagged after the kids met the lion. Up until then, there was lots of magic and nice touches (the dryad made of petals smiling at Lucy, who has a knack for looking amazed). Is it wrong that I think Aslan is the most uninteresting part of the story? Wouldn't a more appropriate allegorical stand in for Jesus be a lamb? Wouldn't it be a better scene for the kids to finally meet Aslan only to find out that the hope of Narnia is just a lamb? Aslan is mighty and everyone loves him, but Jesus had no power in the world as a carpenter's son and no influence outisde a small band of fickle followers. No one in the story doubts or denies Aslan until he's already cold and dead. I also wish the director spent less time showing us battle and more time showing us the Witch's cold charm, Edmund's moral struggle, Aslan's joyful resurrection, and the children interacting with the creatures from Narnia. In the book, the battle was just a way of wrapping things up, it wasn't the payoff (Aslan's resurrection was the payoff).