Generic Children's Action

Rating: 4/10 (20 April 2008)

I love fantasy movies, made for both children and adults from Labyrinth to Lord of the Rings to the 1939 Wizard of Oz and the Harry Potter series. The two things I don't love are generic fantasy movies and directors/writers who feel that they can rewrite an epic tale better than the original author. And they did it by leaving out almost everything that made the Narnia stories emotionally believable or unique.
The movie is much more confrontational than the book. Peter battles the White Witch in a sword battle and Aslan saves Peter by knocking her off physically. The children and the beavers leave the beavers' place as the wolves arrive so that there is a chase scene.
And the movie starts with a world war 2 bombing and the children being sent away in a long good bye in the train station scene. It also makes the Professor sort of goofy and inaccessible and the housekeeper just plain mean, not merely put off her stride by children.
The kids? Well, the movie makes a point of showing Edmund as mean, selfish and awful all the time before Narnia. They're also none too bright - they break a window and run to hide in the Wardrobe. Like if the housekeeper doesn't find them right now, she'll forget all about it? And Lucy is just a little too young.
If you were expecting Jadis to be magnificent or regal, forget it. She's a medium level evil character with no real malevolence and nothing of the royal and completely selfish and powerful queen who followed Digory and Polly from elsewhere to Narnia.
This movie also dots every i and crosses every t. Children are a lot smarter than this movie gives them credit for, and if they have to stretch just a little to understand everything, that's how we grow. If you dumb everything down - particularly a book or movie that was originally something that made us think, all you succeed in doing is not letting us think.
And last - Aslan. There is no mention of his powers - heck, no mention of whether he even HAS powers or a long life or anything else - or of his being the son of the emperor across the sea. Aslan and Lucy do not develop a special relationship.
If you love children's action and fantasy adventures, you may like this movie. If you loved the Narnia books for the wonder and character development of all the characters and the country of Narnia, don't expect much and you won't be too disappointed.