Very much a children's movie.

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2006)

While technically impressive, this film struck me as slightly soulless - although the acting was overall fairly good (Swinton stood out as a very effective Jadis), it appeared content to dazzle younger viewers with almost cartoon-like visuals rather than engage the audience's attention.
It is not without its positive points: Tumnus is also played well by James McAvoy, and the climactic battle scene was at time very impressive. However, the reliance on CGI is a major problem. Although it has been used in the past to great effect to give a realistic feel to proceedings, such as the several thousands of effects in the Lord of the Rings films, in Narnia the effects are very overtly animated, giving some scenes the feel of a Pixar movie rather than a live-action fantasy. To children this would be entertaining, but to older viewers it just seems to be a distraction. Possibly the most egregious case of this is in the rendering of the fox, whose overall effect is quite disturbing, akin to some deformity.
Although the look of Jadis, the minotaur and the overall aesthetic of the final battlefield is well executed, there seems to be very little that stands out other than the main characters. Soldiers are faceless and without personality; even the centaur captain Oreius is devoid of characterisation. The makeup effects on a good deal of the evil creatures are again tending towards simplistically rubbery, in the case of the jail monster to the point of being a basic mass. The effects on creating Aslan are technically good, but are wasted on a design that is simply a large lion instead of the glowing, breathtaking spectacle that it should by rights be, and the ensuing reaction from the assembled army that should be present. Rather than this, the film depicts him as nothing more than a kindly general who happens to be a lion.
And this seems to be the problem with Narnia - it is content to tread through the story in a very workmanlike manner. It feels slightly forced and on rails, moving from one scene to another as if it were checking the 'fantasy epic' boxes one by one - there is no disbelief from the children when they arrive in Narnia, just acceptance and proceeding to the next area (in the case of Lucy, the acceptance is just a large grin and exhalations for several minutes). There is very little subtlety in the film, instead it just boils down C.S. Lewis's story down to the basic elements and pads them out not with characterisation but distractions. Whilst some critics have cited the religious parallels as a reason to give it incredibly high ratings, taken as a purely cinematic experience it is one thing: A children's film, not a family film.
I can't help but wonder how it would have turned out under Peter Jackson...