Great example of book adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2005)

I went into the movie excited, having read all the Chronicles of Narnia, but cautious, after being disappointed by some of the HP movies. Fortunately, I was not disappointed.
For one, they stuck to their story. While I loved the LOTR movies and some of the improvements made, I felt the creative license was abused with some of the HP movies, so seeing how the filmmakers stayed true to C.S. Lewis was a relief. Some things need no improvement.
The first trip Lucy takes into Narnia is startling, awe inspiring and magical, recreating those feelings first felt while reading the book. I kept glancing at my children's faces to gauge their reactions, it was so cool! The four children were portrayed as I had imagined them, a hard feat to accomplish especially with such an established literary work, especially Lucy and Edmund. Edmund's character, which I believe to be the harder of the two could have been a little more fleshed out, a little more conveying of how he wasn't a mean or hateful brother, but just a kid looking for a way to be special in the ways he felt his brother and sisters were. His scenes of redemption seemed to lack the emotional weight I expected, but it's still a good portrayal.
The animal characters, which I feared would be cheesy, were excellent. The battle scenes were short of LOTR, but still intense and exciting. They definitely didn't sugarcoat the scary scenes with Aslan's death, the battle scenes or the stabbing of Edmund by the White Witch.
The visuals were impressive, the castles, the changing of the seasons, the scene at the stone tablet, all very vivid and enormous.
My favorite characters had to be Tumnus, the fawn and the White Witch. Superbly acted. Respectively, they both conveyed their characters as much with their body language and tone, not just relying on the dialog.
I was also pleased to see the scene, a brief break in the end credits where they set up more adventures with Lucy's scene with the Professor.
All in all, I loved this movie, it exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to see it again. I think the second time around it will be much better for I'll allow myself to be swept up in the movie rather than analyzing it for defects.