A worthy adaptation!

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2005)

Not before time this classic story has finally been brought to the big screen. In this time of sequels, adaptations, and a real lack of original ideas it seemed only right that CS Lewis's first Narnian tale should be given the big budget treatment. Under the direction of Andrew Adamson making his live action debut following two successful gigs as director of the Shrek films, this film has the requisite looks and Adamson proves worthy of a film this big, albeit lacking some of the extra flair and conviction injected into the last two Potters and particularly the LOTR trilogy.
Everyone knows the story of the Pevensie kids finding a magical world inside a wardrobe, and becoming the saviours of a whole world. It's a classic tale and taps into the inventive imaginations of young children. It certainly strikes a chord with younger children perhaps more so than Tolkien's middle earth books. Wardrobe is certainly a well made spectacle but at it's 140 minutes length something between book and films doesn't quite gel. In truth the books are extremely simplistic having been aimed at under 10's primarily. This means that in order to transfer the book to screen the filmmakers have had to extend parts, add in depth. Unfortunately there isn't much depth added and as such the character development of the children, and other side characters is thin, or anorexic for want of a better word. At times the film heavily milks LOTR. In fact milking it so hard at times that some cheese actually comes out. We have the kid's given special weapon's etc as they become moved to the idea of helping Narnia. However the battle scenes seems fragmented and tacked on and the kid's barely uses their special gifts before the battle ends sharply. Really this is nothing to have the epic 30 minute battles of the Two Towers and Return Of The King running to the hills.
The film though is still an enjoyable fantasy romp and feels very short despite the epic running time. It seemed to breeze by, because there wasn't much depth to it. The Pevensie kid's are good. Georgie Henley is engaging as Lucy, perhaps the most important role, while Skander Keynes is not as strong in his role as Edmund and at times grates, but being so young he can be cut slack. Willaim Mosely does well as Peter, while the beautiful Anna Pepperell (Whose surname could almost be that of a Narnia inhabitant!) is very good as Susan. What works is that all the actors are perhaps two years older than their characters in the book, and as such there is an added maturity to the performances while they still all look right for the part, something similar in the Potter films as those actors continue to grow in their roles. As for the White Witch, she is played with menace and gusto by Tilda Swinton, strangely sexy as the epitome of all evil.
Harry Gregson Williams was like the director a surprise choice to do the score. However he adds something interesting to it and isn't merely content to do a generic fantasy epic score. The music really adds something to the film. Of course the effects, aside from a few sub par moments, are all excellent particularly the creation of Aslan the lion, voiced majestically by Liam Neeson.
Overall this is a worthy adaptation of a much beloved book that may fall short of the standards of Peter Jackson's LOTR films and the last two excellent Potter films, but as far as fantasy films go it's a worthy watch and truthfully does as much as could be done with such simple material. While Adamson may not have been the ideal director to explore the world visually he certainly does a good job. ***½