Poor attempt to take me back to childhood...

Rating: 3/10 (25 December 2005)

With the fondest of memories, I think of the daily hour-long story time sessions my grade two teacher, Mr Rowell, used to treat us to. Through out that school year, we were mesmerized by his reading to us from a few of the Narnia series books, including The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. And because of the beauty of those novels, our whole class was turned on to the world of reading.
This film, though, does nothing to remind me of those great hours from my childhood. There is little magical about this film. It's just Disney's poor attempt to mint a series-based, money making franchise, as its competitors have done of late with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. The difference is that Peter Jackson's films are classics (better than the hard to read novels, in my opinion) and the Potter series just turned got a shot in the arm with the Goblet of Fire. Those studios recognized that the audience has to enjoy itself while they make money.
Narnia though runs most often like a cheap rip-off of the Lord of the Rings. The scenes with the children discovering Narnia through the wardrobe (some of the best from the novel) are the most boring in the film. Disney is going to have a tough time trying to entice me to go see the follow-ups.
Save your money and buy the books to read to your kids. You're better off.