Finally bringing the magic alive

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2005)

Every now and again you come across a film that is so beautiful that you just don't want it to end. Even in a fully-seated cinema, you forget that you are there with people. The screen swallows you, the story engulfs you, and the whole film's sole purpose seems to be to tell you, and only you, a story.
I recently had one of those experiences when following the Pevensie siblings on their journey through Narnia, in the form of the 2005 release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
There is no doubt in my mind: taking on the magic of C.S. Lewis is beyond the mental capabilities of most directors. When it was announced that the director of the Witch and the Wardrobe had not made any "real" feature-length films before, I dreaded the results deeply. How would the maker of Shrek and Shrek 2 translate his skills into transmogrifying one of my favourite childhood memories?
I should not have feared.
The Chronicles of Narnia is a film that couldn't have been made 10 years ago - it relies so heavily on special effects and digital tricks that even attempting to make it without all the digital trickery would have resulted in a B-movie, regardless of its budget. With his experience as the special effects guy on several of the Batman films, Director and producer Andrew Adamson did manage to put together one hell of a display.
With all the visual do-goodery in place, and one of the best stories ever told to drive it forward, there wasn't a lot to make the Witch and the Wardrobe fail... And of course, it didn't. Striding from strength to strength, effortlessly combining the magical with the mythical, the impossible with the improbable, and the beautiful with the gorgeous, this was 2 hours that couldn't possibly have been filled with more heartwarming surprises.
I'm not the kind of person who cries often, and especially not on films, yet this film had my eyes welling over half a dozen times - that's how beautiful it is.
After I came out of the cinema, I ended up texting an old friend of mine. Her response summarised the film and how I feel about it better than anything else could have: "There's always a Narnia somewhere".