Visually a feast to the eyes, but sometimes the story is unengaging.

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2009)

I thought this a very well done film indeed. I will say the film looks just splendid, especially the scenes in Narnia, with beautiful snowy sets (some looked as though it had come from the LOTR trilogy). However, some of the scenes looked as though they had been computerised, such as the scene with the children and beavers running across the ice. There were also some attempts to put some humour into the story like the professor's line "ah yes, the weeping one" in reference to Lucy and the beavers especially, but because the director had taken liberties to make the story darker, the humour didn't quite work. However there are a number of positives, like the spirited performances of the children, Georgie Henley especially, better than Sophie Wilcox's rather goofy portrayal in the 1988 series. James McAvoy is charming as Mr. Tumnus, and Liam Neeson was majestic as Aslan. But the acting honours go to Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, even with her calmness she dominates the screen, in a sometimes chilling portrayal as the character. The film was fairly faithful to the book, but the added scenes and dialogue failed to engage as much. All, a flawed but enjoyable film. 7/10 Bethany Cox