captivating

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2005)

London is in turmoil during the war, with the Pevensie family abandoning their home. The four children; Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy are sent off to live with Professor Kirke. The house keeper Mrs. MacReady has strict rules, with the children finding it a very dull place. During a game of hide and seek, Lucy finds a wardrobe that leads to another world; the world of Narnia. Soon Lucy meets a faun Mr. Tumnus, inviting her to tea and and reveals the implications of her presence. Lucy returns through the wardrobe to tell the others, with a lot of disbelief. Lucy unable to make the others believe, during the night goes back through, with Edmund not far behind. On Edmunds arrival, he accidentally meets the White Witch, who is eager to meet the rest of his siblings. Soon Lucy and Edmund have Peter and Susan in Narnia, but with their presence, Narnia is about to change. When two beavers take them into protection, they tell the Pevensies that there is a prophecy that foretells that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will come to Naria and end the eternal winter, ending the rule of the White Witch. On Edmunds meeting of the Witch, she promised him glory, so Edmund runs off to her castle. When the Witch is alerted to their presence, she keeps Edmund captive and sends off her wolves to kill the other Penvensies. With the three children needing help to save Edmund, they ask help from Aslan, the lion who once ruled Naria. Willing to help them, Aslan leads them and an army to fight back for the rule of Naria.
The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is a magical, captivating film. As Lewis and Tolkien were contemporaries of their time and friends, its hard not to see similarities to The Lord of the Rings. Yet once you past this tiny stone, your transported into a world that is wholly different to Middle Earth. The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is more of a children's version of Lord of the Rings, yet it doesn't fall into the trap of being solely a children's movie. There are adults who have read these books and this is raised so it captures the adults inner child, while bringing a new generation of children into this celebrated book.
The World of Naria is a broad, sweeping place that is magnificently brought to the screen. The heavy winter snow of the forest and the plains are so captivating, that you get distracted by them. When the snow melts away you find a bright and warm world being released from the cold. The creatures of Narnia are a wonderful array of fairytale creatures and modern animals. Whats great is that Andrew Adamson didn't rely so heavily on CGI to create the creature; using a lot of puppetry in the mix to make a more realistic feel. Aslan is wonderfully created, perfectly integrated with a high level of realism.
Andrew Adamson has done a huge leap from directing computer animated films, to the live action. While Adamson is great on the computer animated films, there are times his direction seemed to drop, as it is very different directing live action to CA. Though it only drops a few times, he has done a wonderful job at bringing this world of Narnia to life. His directing abilities really shine during the battle sequence, bring his eye of detail out. The battle was a spectacular sequence, with all the creatures doing battle. The acting was one of the weaker elements of the film. The four lead children while doing good jobs, didn't reach a performance that emotionally grabbed you. Though Georgie Henley as Lucy really takes your heart, she has so much talent for such a young girl. Tilda Swinton was really cold hearted as the White Witch, though i felt she could have gone further and brought an even more menacing performance, where ever word she said was just tainted with coldness. The voice talent of the creatures was also great. Ray Winstone and Dawn French do great jobs as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver.
The Chronicles of Naria: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe does fall short on the epic grandeur that it was aiming for, yet it doesn't fall short of a wonderful family movie that will captivate your imagination and bring that inner child back to life.