A commendable adaptation

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2006)

Quite within expectations, this adaptation stays very close to the book. These days, it's very difficult for spectacular photography and big battle scenes to impress, after LOTR, Star Wars, Troy, Alexander etc. This movie does deliver on the pure visual level, even not in a spectacular sort of way. While on battle scenes, it's interesting to note the parallel between the start of the movie with a fleet of German planes dropping bombs and the start of the battle in Narnia with a fleet of griffons dropping rocks.
C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories are for children, although they offer a little more than fairy tales such as Snow White or even The Wizard of Oz. There is full scale pitch of the forces of dark against the forces of light, the fundamental of all fantasies. The plot of dark forces causing catastrophic climatic changes has been widely used since Lewis, most noticeably in Guy Gaveril Kay's Fionavar stories, and probably also (here my memories is a little blurred) in Stephen Donaldson's The Land. The obvious allusion to Christianity in Aslan's resurrection does not even require debating and those who enjoy reading Lewis beautiful and imaginative writing on Christianity will no doubt find great pleasure in "The great divorce". For "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe" as a children's story, whether interpreting Aslan as Christ or not does not take anything away from or add anything to the story because logically (as Susan would say), whatever the reader chooses to believe automatically becomes an innate part of the story anyway.
What I find most interesting is watching the four children. For simplicity, permit me to use only their names in the story although I'm likely talking about both the character and the actor at the same time. Little Lucy particularly stands out, reminding me of Jodie Foster, in defiance of what she believes is wrong. Yet she still retains that sweet innocence that mercifully rescues her from looking like an undersized adult as some do in other movies. Edmond refrains well in not having too much of the dark side, as he is more of a victim of the circumstances, a young boy overwhelmed by temptation as well as forces far too strong for him to deal with. Also his treachery in absolutely necessary, to allow Aslan's sacrifice to develop. Susan has a strong character, as well as a penchant for logic, which everybody respects. Even her older brother Peter taking the coats from the wardrobe into Narnia humours her "logically, we are not taking them outside the wardrobe". By comparison, Peter is the weakest of the characters and falls short a little in convincing the audience that he can shoulder Aslan's responsibilities.
Not to be forgotten is of course Tilda Swinton, who is right up there with Cate Blanchette as "an actress with a thousand faces" (just consider the very different roles she plays in three recent movies - "Young Adam", "Constantine" and "Broken flowers"). Without 3-D, she brings the White Witch right out of the screen, giving this otherwise somewhat standard character some additional dimensions.