A gorgeous treat for everyone!

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2005)

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD! It's as simple as this: young or old, see this film! The scenery, direction, actors, and, of course, the story are wonderful. The purity of the original book is upheld and the one or two added bits, such as the Blitz scene at the very beginning of the film, work extremely well. The child actors are all decent enough, all of them able to carry their scenes and successfully convey the courage and heartbreak of their characters. Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes as Emdmund and Lucy are particularly convincing and when Lucy weeps for her fallen friends it melted even my cold cynical heart - so don't worry. As for the adult thespians, Tilda Swinton is positively glacial as the White Witch, James McAvoy is perfect as the sweet, tortured Mr Tumnus - and his chemistry with Henley is excellent - and Jim Broadbent makes good use of his limited screen time as the Professor. Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan settles comfortably into his familiar role of kind mentor. New Zealand is apparently THE place to film one's fantasy epic these days and indeed, it's advantages are made very clear in this film. 'Narnia' (as most people are probably referring to it as) will thrill and it will delight and it should warm the hearts of everyone but the most bitter cynics. I went to see this film with eight friends of varying dispositions, some of whom adore the book and some of whom have never read it before and we all enjoyed it very much. Seeing a book so beloved by the nation brought to life on cinema is very satisfying and with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings et al, it is becoming a regular occurrence. Let's make the most of this new so-called Age of the Fantasy Film and be thankful that we got to be here for its time on the big screen.
So, come on, indulge your children and your inner child and buy some hot chocolate and some Turkish delight and get down to the cinema now!