brighter than the book

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2005)

Although the movie's mood is much brighter than C.S. Lewis' book "The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" - it's still not your average Disney-family adventure. For one thing the child actors actually look like people, not like surgically enhanced dolls (the actor of Peter actually really much resembles Englands Prince William...) - and they play pleasantly subtle. The decor of the world Narnia is not too fanciful and the lighting looks mostly natural. The CGI's are amazing: all the talking, running, flying animals - and especially the great lion Aslan - actually seem to have some weight at last. If it wasn't for the grand epic score that all too much resembles the "Lord of the Rings"- Trilogy, this would be a likable enough. But the score is over-persuasive all through the film. It doesn't allow you a second to take a breath, think for yourself and makes you feel strained out after the first half hour or so. A contradiction in itself: how the images work so hard on creating a whole different universe. And the soundtrack/score at the same time works so hard on making it sound like any other blockbuster of the season ...