beautiful, great acting, soulless

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2005)

I'm a Narnia fan (have re-read all the books every 2 years or so for fifteen years now) and went to the movie excitedly and open-mindedly. It's hard to satisfy fans who know the stories so well and love them as they are: but Peter Jackson completely satisfied me with Lord of the Rings, despite the changes he'd made. So I was hopeful.
I was very struck, as others have posted, by how beautifully-made the film was. The acting and voices, too, were superb, as were all the effects and props. Yet I am completely dissatisfied.
Why? It seems the "soul" has been excised from the story. Why did the director (or screenwriter) make so many bloody changes that seemed to contribute nothing to the story, or even detract? For instance, why was Aslan's "children why are you following me" line changed to "shouldn't you be in bed"? That seems a definite unimprovement, and was echoed by many other changes. Was Disney's PC squad on the loose, cutting out anything that seemed too religious? Regardless of the cause, all the deep spirituality and gravitas--the things which made the books spellbinding (and I'm not even a Christian, but rather a Baha'i)--have been removed or changed. Meanwhile, much angst was added that wasn't in the original story, such as Peter's repeated squeamishness, and all the too-dwelled-upon sibling stuff. And then the gorgeous Narnia that was created, including special new touches such as the phoenix, was flashed too briefly before our eyes.
I think this movie sapped the soul out of Narnia, despite the brilliant work done by nearly everyone involved. The culprits seem to have been story-monkeying, and a failure to allow us to experience what is truly enthralling about the Narnia story, including a failure to allow us to dwell long enough in what of Narnia had been brilliantly created.
Alas, with a salute to the acting, cinematography, and rendering, I sigh and go back to the books. The door is still open for someone to capture Narnia. I hope that by "The Voyage of the Dawn-Treader" and "The Last Battle" someone gets it right. Put the soul back in. It's not Christian, it's spiritual, and please leave it that way, gravitas intact.