In a word...it's all about "nostalgia"

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2006)

...For me, anyway, experiencing this movie on the big screen, was a matter of reliving a piece of childhood nostalgia...and, that was the only real driving force, behind my resolve to see it.
To that extent, it did not disappoint.
Visually, this is a beautiful movie, which had no trouble holding my attention, on those grounds alone.
Story wise, is where I started recognizing, that not all beloved books are well suited, to be made into movies, which are strictly faithful to the original storyline.
There are things about the C.O.N. novels, which make it hard for any movie to gloss over (or just ignore), without leaving you (or at least me) with the sense that there are substantial holes in the plot and story.
There seems to be a trend amongst some, trying to spread this notion that you can either watch it from a religious standpoint and it works great, or you can watch it from a non-religious standpoint and it works just as great. Personally, I could not disagree with this notion more staunchly, if I wanted to. I strongly disagree.
It's not that the religious tones are overbearing, or that they are not kept well enough out of the limelight...It's that, if you are not reading them into the story, then you are left with the sense that there should be more there...that the story should be better fleshed out, than it is.
...and, this is a good lead in to the flow of the movie...which was great, during the first half or so of the movie, but, then degenerates into this experience, where you are simply having ill explained scenes hurled in front of you.
If you know the basic story from the book (I do), then it may not be such an issue to you...but, if you are walking into the theater thinking, "I'm leaving any preconceptions at the door...I simply want to be treated to a good story", then this simply does not work well.
The pacing of this movie is badly uneven, and it suffers for this.
The acting is passable. Nobody will win an Oscar, I'm sure, but, nobody was abysmal to watch, either. The two younger children, are quite cute, and delightful to watch.
As to the general viewing experience, I found myself genuinely sucked in, and enjoying it...but, I was constantly enjoying it by, "in the moment", bits and pieces...not so much so, as a larger, connected story.
...In fact, it is the "connected" aspect, that is such an issue to me...This movie feels disjointed, from one scene to the next, in a fair amount of it. I feel like I connected with some of the scenes, remembering and anticipating what was about to happen, but once the scene ended, it was like being plucked out of one world, and plopped down into another world...to enjoy that scene for what it was, and plucked away again.
It just did not work, as an over all story...Something is missing, and you can tell.
The movie feels epic, in some regards, but fails to fully flesh out an epic tale.
Children of all ages may quite enjoy this movie, regardless...It's a matter of taste, preference and forgivability.
Personally, being someone who has experienced this story from both the religious and the atheist perspective, in both book and movie form, I find myself in the awkward position of knowing and understanding the religion influence, accepting that it is there, yet still wishing it were different, and seeing this is an ultimate downfall of the movie.
...and the awkward thing, is that I still enjoyed it, and would likely recommend it to others, who are fans of the books. The movie has good nostalgia value, in my opinion.