Hmmmm. Certaintley a must see, but... hmmmm

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2005)

Being a student, I had plenty of time to see the new big film on it's day of release. Narnia was a bit of a mixed bag, in that the best opinion I had heard was "Not Convincing". Despite my best rose-tinted glasses, I could not get past the fact that the film never had the Wow factor of a modern epic, until the simply superb Battle scene and the impossibly stunning graphics of the fully CG animals, even if some where a little charicatured in the design. Charicatured, hollow and sporadically ropey are actually a very good criticisms of the whole film. There is never a sense of excitement, enchantment or scale in the movie. The acting is often wooden or very melodramatic, exasperated by a lack of any depth in the characters beyond the basics for telling the story. And, just to top it off, I think that the idea that it is a fantasy version of Crucifixion theory is over-hyped, with the scale of Aslan's sacrifice in saving the whole of Narnia withered by the fact that Neeson never gives off the power of Aslan, as if a few snarls and soothing comments will win our admiration, and, as the script picks up pace, focusing the role of Peter and the inevitable fall of the Ice Queen, seems to be still alive by some loophole in the possibly magical laws of Narnia.
In summation, Adamson fails where Jackson succeeded in not breaking down the most fascinating aspects of a beloved and heavyweight cultural tome to a story in it's own right in favour of retelling the best bits. An unnoticeable soundtrack adds to a hollow feeling of melodrama rather than the drama the ideas presented should deserve
Actual Good Points? Lucy (although not the other children) being neither annoying or wooden (difficult for most kids- Maybe a UK Dakota Fanning in the making), and Tilda Swinton, Ray Winston and James MacAvoy being beautifully otherwordly and intelligent in their acting, very much single-handedly making their scenes work , and of course the awesome Animals. I will watch all the inevitable sequels in the franchise, but will probably not need the DVD's.