Phenomenal adaptation

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2016)

C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is a dazzling, indisputable success, as both a standalone film and when viewed next to its literary counterpart. It stands as a milestone for me, in the sense that it's pretty much the only film adaptation of book that was very special to me growing up to not only do the story justice, but to come out a winner as the best cinematic vision of it possible. It's a feast for the eyes, ears and spirit, and remarkably, a lot of it plays out exactly how my cherished memories of the book do. No having said that, I would advise avoidance of the sequels, one of which I've seen which put me off going for the next one. Prince Caspian felt lazy, rushed and cheap, not to mention that they fudged up the progression of the series and completely skipped The Horse And His Boy, one of of my favourites. Gahh writing this makes me want to go read them all again!!! Anyways let's stay on track. From the opening frame, a rattling POV shot of bombs descending on a WWII ravaged London, the film assures us that it means business, and isn't going to slip into the pandering, glossy, watered over Young Adult world of adaptations. The Pevensie children, four precocious English youngsters, are sent away from the conflict to live with a distant relative in the country. There, they find a desolate old mansion, populated only by a staunch housekeeper, and the eccentric owner, Professor Kirke (Charming Jim Broadbent). They also stumble upon a magical wardrobe which leads to a vast kingdom called Narnia, filled with talking beasts, castles, forests and more legendary creatures than you can shake a stick at. Lucy (Georgie Henley is the perfect, darling Lucy I imagined), the youngest and most intuitive of the four, is first to venture through, meeting a kindly fawn named Mr. Tumnus (James Macavoy) who tells her that Narnia has fallen on hard, wintry times. Her sibling back in our world don't believe her, until they too are whisked through into the land, unknowingly thrust into an adventure to save Narnia, which will well likely put them in more danger than anything WWII has to offer. The four are uncannily well cast: William Moseley brings the humbled nobility and budding leader in Peter magnificently, Anna Popplewell shows the compassionate warrior's heart in Susan, and Skandar Keyes expertly handles the arc of Edmund, the black sheep of the group with lessons to learn, both bitter and sweet. They are pit against Narnia's resident villain and warlord, the malicious White Witch Jadis (Tilda Swinton will freeze your heart), with the help of many a talking animal, including friendly Mr. Beaver (Ray Winstone), and the godly lion and pseudo savior Aslan (Liam Neeson, because who else would you cast?). Michael Madsen provides his raspy growl to the voice of Maugrim, the Witch's top wolf lieutenant in her lupine secret police force. There's other hidden Easter eggs of voice-over work from Dawn French as Mrs. Beaver and Rupert Everett as a Fox. The scope and spectacle is paramount in bringing the world of Narnia to life, and the filmmakers spare no expanse here: The children delve into chases, battles, betrayals, icy encounters with the witch, sword fights and and all sorts of wonder, including a surprise visit from Father Christmas himself, warmly intoned by James Cosmo. Equally important as the dazzle dazzle, however, are the quiet, contemplative conversations that flourish into important character beats and lessons for all involved. The four are at a crux of human development, and vulnerable to stimuli both internal and external. Even though the story takes place in a magical, seemingly unreal world of fantasy, the interactions and human behaviour couldn't feel more real. It's all flawlessly carried over from the book, born on the gilded wings of a stirring musical score from Harry Gregson Williams that swells to near transcendent heights when we reach the climactic battle. Like I said, quite simply the finest adaptation we could ever hope for. It's just too bed they slacked off with threat few. On the bright side, we'll always have this on.