very enjoyable

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2005)

Heartwarming, intense - a great story. Some parts were more faithfully captured than others, but this movie has plenty of widespread appeal. There is minimal gore, but enough action. Overall, the kid acting wasn't bad, and Tilda Swinton was truly spectacular as the White Witch. At times the story seemed to jump ahead without much explanation, but so does the book. Also, the movie jumps ahead at many of the same places that the book does - but provides more back-story at others. Aesthetically very pleasing, although perhaps not as technically polished as something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. On the other hand, it was nice that the movie didn't rely much on sweeping visuals. The visual effects were there when needed. Great sound, great soundtrack. Few complaints if any. I think that if anything people might be turned off by the fact that holding to the book also causes the movie to seem kind of anachronistic sometimes. But it was nice not to see the movie suffer because of a need to be updated for contemporary American culture or anything like that. I personally would have appreciated more realistic violence, but I think that this qualifies as a family film, so it works.