Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2005)

I found the books very moving. I found the start of the movie promising. But the movie is paced very poorly: too much time is spent in setting up the children and the Narnia environment, and not nearly enough time is spent on the Aslan part of the story. I felt little investment in these characters; the pacing felt rushed and geared more toward chase and battle scenes than toward the material and scenes that should be so emotionally gripping. The big emotional scenes were far too rushed. And given that the movie has made the choice to go for the adventure aspect of things, the CGI effects were great...for 1982.
Inevitable comparisons will be made to Lord of the Rings. To some degree, these aren't quite fair: Tolkein's work is, from a literary standpoint, stronger. That aside, had Peter Jackson made this film, it would have been fantastic. And by that I don't only mean special effects (though there did seem to be a bunch of cast-off costumes from LotR): this director needs to learn about pacing.
On the good side, the faun, Mr Tumnus, is played very effectively, the children Lucy and Edmund are strong, and Tilda Swinton rocks as the White Witch--she's the best part of the movie, really.
Otherwise, it was rather disappointing. It wasn't awful. It just wasn't good. If you've read the books, as many on the forum have, you might be able to wring the emotion out of the film based on your memory of your reading. If you haven't read the books, this film will leave you wondering what all the fuss was about.