Adamson truly brings Lewis' masterpiece to the modern audience

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2005)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was simple an amazing and captivating film, full of life and representative of the deep imagination of C.S. Lewis. The parts were well-cast, the animation was incredible and appropriate, and the battle scenes were quite exciting.
All of the characters were represented well, especially the four Pevensie children. The four child actors truly understood their characters and brought them to life. Tilda Swinton as Jadis seemed to be off at first, but soon became quite convincing as the White Witch, demonstrating her wicked and relentless nature through her calm but stern personage. While James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus seemed to be the weakest and most scattered character, he did possess enough charm to play off his seemingly flat expressions. All the voice-overs were great, and the conversations between the beavers offered timely comic relief. Liam Neeson as Aslan seemed at first to be almost too predictable, but his booming voice worked great with the awesome appearance of the lion.
In terms of animation, the movie was a true triumph. The creators chose just the correct mixture of realistic and clearly CGI animation to present the animals and beasts in a fashion that reminded the audience of the fact that while they were fantasy creatures, they appeared to be perfectly in place in the magical world of Narnia. Not once throughout the movie did I think to myself that the animation looked "fake" or "overdone," and it was the way in which the animators depicted the entire world of Narnia, the landscapes and creatures, that made it appear so delightfully real. I especially enjoyed the facial expressions and speaking of the creatures, which was very realistic.
Finally, the movie was completed by the awesome battle scenes that took place near its end. In true Lord of the Rings style, Weta Workshop crafted a fully-armed battle that could stand up to those of the Jackson series. However, a comparison of the Lord of the Rings' battles and the one in Narnia cannot truly be made, for the movies are completely different. Narnia was much more a fantasy than LOTR, simply because it possessed a real world and a fantasy one, while LOTR was completely fantasy. It is for precisely this reason that the battle scenes, full of minotaurs and ogres, centaurs and satyrs, worked so well, and were seen as not only appropriate but a true triumph of modern animation.
Overall, Adamson should be highly commended for bringing the genius work of C.S. Lewis to life in this movie. I only hope he will agree to make more movies in the series. If you haven't seen it, you must, and prepare to be truly captivated by the magical world of Narnia.