Excellent

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2005)

Where to begin? This movie affected me in ways that are hard to describe. The best description I can think of is The Passion Of The Christ meets Lord Of The Rings, since so many of the central elements and themes from each of these movies are uniquely blended together in TCON:The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The insights of C.S. Lewis as someone of faith, which the movie is faithful to, are instructive, yet the fairy tale theme makes the mind attempt to object to the setting of the movie, since the central themes are not fairly tales. It has so many touching moments where the teachings of Christianity are hard to miss. When Aslan sacrifices himself, it is very moving, and the scene is made even more touching by Lucy's and Susan's reaction to those events before and after they occur. This movie has it all: wholesome and instructive themes, suspense and mystery, comedy, a bit of violence, good vs. evil conflict, convincing performances, and dazzling special effects. This movie is a must see, as it has something for both adults and children, with no profanity or nudity. The battle scenes at the end may upset very young children though, so parents with young children may want to see it first without the kids to determine it their kids can handle it. There are a couple of things about the movie though that I do take issue with, which is my reason for not giving it a perfect rating. First, when Walden Media have movie options on all seven books in TCON, why did they stray from the order in which C.S. Lewis intended for the books to be read. It seems to me that The Magician's Nephew should have been made into a movie first. It provides background information for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: The creation of Narnia, The origin of the White Witch, The origin of the lamppost out in the middle of the woods, "Professor Kirke's" true relationship to the story, and the origin of the wardrobe and how it came to be a link between Narnia and our world. All these points will be lost on those who haven't read the books. I also take issue with the made up scene when Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and the children are escaping from the White Witch. This scene is not true to the book.