Lavish adaptation---ALMOST great.

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2005)

Here you have just more than HALF of what it takes to make a great and enduring fantasy film. Great look and sound--but an unfortunately lacking script, and dull acting. Great children's entertainment, but without the adult element that would deepen it. (Only Tilda Swinton plays her role at an engagingly adult level that also works for the kids.) Lewis's original books worked, as Roald Dahl's books work, because they don't talk down to the kids, who recognize B.S. better than anyone.
Quality of script and acting are more important than lavish sets and effects--films like Neverending Story and Princess Bride proved this. When the most intriguing screen presence is the villain (Tilda Swinton's toned-down but unnervingly creepy White Witch), the balance of the story is in trouble. Just think how much you could root for emotionally engaging heroes like Atreyu, or the eccentric gang from Princess Bride, or that motley gang of kids with real personalities in Spielberg's The Goonies.
So, they got half of it right. Really right. Unfortunately, it's the less important half.
* * *
Script problems include leaving out crucial details that give the plot events meaning, a general dumbing down (in the book, for example, Lucy protests reasonably enough that they have to stay in Narnia because "it's on my account that Mr. Tumnus is in trouble"; the film dumbs it down to a four-year-old wide-eyed "But we HAVE to help MR. TUMNUS," without explanation; et cetera). The Father Christmas episode, which has rightly been called off-putting in the film version, was less awkward in the book because Santa provided a merry meal as well as murderous weapons, plus a sewing machine for Mrs. Beaver, and it all seemed less abrupt.
Pacing problems include dialogue that stretches out with hypnotic languor even while leaving out helpful details; you'll be left begging for another implausible action sequence.
Acting problems include the general blandness of the main characters, despite the sweet screen presence of Lucy, (you'd think even well-bred British children would exhibit some astonishment at entering another dimension; their indifference works in the book, but not on film), and a general failure of actors to inhabit their roles. Even James McAvoy, one of the better actors as Mr. Tumnus, could have avoided the uneasy "molestor" dynamic by playing the faun as eccentric and slightly blithering, as in the book, as opposed to the quiet, wry intensity he brings to the role here.
And on and on. The main problem is a lack of characters we really identify with or care about.
Unlike many viewers, I enjoyed the build-up to the Wardrobe; the air-raid sequences and the leaving of home were emotionally engaging (Mrs. Macready was an entertainingly sharp presence), and the sarcastic dynamic between the bored children actually made for some believable interaction and characterization.