One of those films that the majority can enjoy and not completely hate.

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2006)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an entertaining film for both kids and adults  something we rarely find in a world of either Brokeback Mountain or Daddy Day Care. In this lovely adaptation from the classic novel from C.S. Lewis, director Andrew Adamson takes the book into a new level if not better. Other than being a well-told story, some of the scenes look breathtaking and adds more eye candy to the solid-traditional novel. In other words, Adamson is able to do the impossible: Make the film better than the book.
Narnia is quite a popular story and I don't think there is any reason for me to really explain it in a coherent fashion. It is simply about four children (Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley) who lives in a time of WWII and moves to the home a professor  and they happen to discover the world of Narnia through a wardrobe in the professor's home when the youngest child Lucy (Henley) was trying to find a place to hide during a game of hide-and-seek. As beautiful Narnia seem to be with its snowflakes on the ground, we find out that it is not all it seems to be. Narnia has been having its winter for about 100 years when the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) took over. The Witch happens to be looking for four children who are going to arrive in Narnia and fight alongside Aslan, the "lion king" to make more sense (voiced by Liam Neeson). The Witch wants to trap the children, as the children tries to escape from her with help from the creatures in the woods.
The film has its sparks, with a good cast and nice entertaining bits here and there. The four children in the film actually seem like relatives so that is a huge plus right there. Tilda Swinton, whom I have never really seen in anything else before is absolutely fabulous here: She plays a villain that strikes with just a stare with her cold, blank eyes. There are also some good supporting players, including James McAvoy's Mr. Tumnus, the Faun that saves Lucy from harm of the White Witch. There is also Jim Broadbent as the professor that we actually come to love in the little scenes he is in.
There are a few problems I had with this film. Even though CGI isn't at tops right now, Aslan's fur looked so artificially fake to me that I thought I was going to prefer that dragon from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. There is also the corny dialogue that you won't notice unless you're older than the age of twelve  but that is another matter. There is also Edmund (Keynes), which I swear is the "other" version of Fredo in The Godfather: Part II, only nobody kills him and he turns out okay in the end.
Many knew Lewis was a Christian, and in a society where we have to say "Happy Holidays" in schools, I was glad to see that the film kept the Christian allegories that Lewis intended for his original novel. (You see, Aslan is Jesus.) I try to wonder if younger children in our society that are not raised in such a culture of religion (I have friends who don't even know what I'm referring to when I talk about a man putting bunch of animals in a ark) would really understand this story. There are a few scenes where some of the creatures in Narnia ask, "Are you the son of Adam?" "Are you the daughter of Eve?" But still, this tiny problem would not turn away audiences  I assure you that kids will still enjoy it because it still maintains its kid-friendly action-entertainment.
I really liked this movie  it was entertaining, it was nice, it was a film that I think I can watch with anyone in the world, it had nice performances (kudos to Swinton), and it was better than the book, something that is rarely achieved in cinema. This film also makes for really good eye-candy, with the lovely snow from Narnia, the sleigh of Santa Claus even made Santa to a knight in shiny armor, and everything from the makeup to the costumes  it was all really well done. Adamson surprised me with all the success of Narnia, considering the only films on his director resume are the Shrek franchise. Overall, this is a good film, despite the corniness of some of scenes, but after all, Narnia is aimed at children and people who absolutely loved the book. I am none of those, but I still recommend families check it out for family movie night  there is a huge chance you might enjoy it.