It really has grown on me

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2007)

In the past 5 or so years numerous novel adaptations and family films have come out. Two of the most popular book series ever written, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, have been brought to the screen and gained considerable amount of praise. I, myself, liked both series of films but doubted that three in a row could be pulled off, especially how close all were coming out. Henceforth, I waited a long time to finally watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and when I first saw it, I was a tad bit disappointed but since then the film has grown considerably on me.
The story follows that of four British children during the Battle of Britain. Their mother, seeing it to be too dangerous to remain in London, ships them off to the countryside to spend time with a crazy uncle in a large but boring mansion. There the children try everything they can in order to pass the time. One day, the youngest, Lucy stumbles through a wardrobe and falls into a magical land known as Narnia. Soon all of the children enter into the world and are brought into a battle with Aslan, a mighty lion, against the evil Jadis the White Witch for safety of Narnia.
After I first watched it I found the four children to be rather wooden. They seemed bored and not familiar at all with the books. They seemed just too boring to be enjoyable or at least main characters for the movie. After my third viewing my mind changed. I realized something, I'm not familiar with British children personality and even less familiar with their acting skills. Once I realized this I realized they weren't at all wooden and boring, they simply weren't what I was used to from child actors. I realized how strong of performances they actually gave, especially William Moseley who I now believed portrayed an amazing Peter.
The special effects for the film are tremendous. The visual effects department really out did themselves with this film. They generated amazing animals and creatures for the film that looked entirely authentic and believable. What also made the film is that not everything is computer generated. Most of the characters were in makeup and wore costumes, not lame CGI characters fighting. General Otmin had one of the most incredible looking costumes I've ever seen. I was highly impressed by the art department and effects department with the film.
The film is not without flaws. I found some parts to be rather dry and boring especially the early parts of entering Narnia. Don't get me wrong, the set was amazing and visually stunning, the dialog was just a bit bland. Skandar Keynes really did not give a good performance. The kid tried his best but it just didn't feel like he was into the movie that much. He had the same dull expression on his face and rarely seemed to be trying. Moseley did the best of the children actors but even his inexperience showed just a little.
Now the film does have several strong points. Tilda Swinton proves yet again she is one of the top British actresses out there and can do a variety of roles, including a pretty scary White Witch. Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan (Aslan is CGI) is very good. Neeson shows he has some skill with voice acting. The Battle of Narnia, which is close to the end, is visually stunning and filled with amazing special effects and acting. I love battles in films and this fantasy battle was a rare treat. It was interesting to see animals doing combat (all staged and CGI, no animals were harmed making the film) and seeing the magic C.S. Lewis intended being brought to life with this film.
I strongly recommend the film for the lovers of the book. Some people may think it is a kids film and while there are many cute scenes and cuddly looking animals there are several frightening moments and some pretty intense battle violence for a PG film. There is virtually no language, there's a lot of cuteness to the film but also a valuable lesson to also be learned from it. I won't ruin the message though, you've got to watch it. Overall a very good film that could have been better but is still good as it is now.
3.5/5 stars