I tried really hard to love this movie but it left me lukewarm

Rating: 4/10 (16 December 2005)

Let me start by saying this, I am in no way attacking the story itself. I love these books and I think C.S. Lewis was an amazing writer.
I hate to say this because I really wanted to like this movie but I was somewhat disappointed. I have to very much agree with zach-74's review of the movie. I don't expect books to translate directly into movies. They are different mediums. But I thought this was a mediocre attempt. Without re-hashing zach-74's review which I think is right on, there were a couple missing elements that I wished they had put in. Where is the playfulness of Aslan? His playing with the children and also with the animals that he brings back to life gives him a wonderful quality that we don't get in the movie. Another element was the suffering that takes place on the walk to the Stone Table when Aslan is to be killed. Maybe this was getting to close to the underlying Christian element in the book (It is NOT an allegory; those who say it is need to look up the definition of allegory. It has strong Christian overtones but Aslan is not an allegory for Christ...Christ practiced nonviolence, something Aslan does not). At the end, I didn't feel that Aslan was really the amazing, wise, compassionate character that he is in the book. I also missed the humorous asides and narration that are present in the book. I don't know how that could be accomplished in a movie but I think it could have been attempted. There are other movies that have narrators.
As for the characters, I though the children were reasonably good but I was most disappointed in Liam Neeson as Aslan and Tilda Swinton as Jadis. I tried to be impressed by their performances but I was left lukewarm. Neeson didn't have quite the inflection that I would imagine for Aslan. I wanted to feel that I was hearing Aslan and instead I just felt like I was hearing Liam Neeson. Swinton looked good in the previews but in the movie she seemed...small...that's the best word I can think of. Jadis is supposed to be this extraordinarily tall, originally dark haired, magnetic figure. Instead she is just creepy and cruel...there's nothing that makes me understand why Edmund is so entranced with her. Those who have read the Magician's nephew know that there is a fascination with her...she exudes some quality that leads you to be enchanted with her until you discover the cruelty and hardness underneath the surface.
One more thing...for those who have not read the book, that whole bit at the end with them grown up is probably a bit confusing. I feel like movies should be able to stand alone...meaning a person doesn't have to read the book to understand what's going on in the movie. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to say this movie was perfect, I found myself often having to turn to my memories of the book to fill in the blanks in the movie that didn't quite fulfill it's potential.