Good fantasy, but not really an epic.

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2005)

Four children are taken away from war-torn London to the house of an eccentric professor in the English country side. There, during a rainy day playing hide and seek the youngest girl Lucy (Georgie Henley) finds a portal to a fantasy land, Narnia, in the back of a wardrobe.
What happens after that is a fantasy epic. The coming of the children marks the end of a long winter and the birth of a new age in the land. The White Witch (Tilda Swinton) has brought winter (but not Christmas) to the land and runs Narnia with the aid of her secret police.
I'll get the comparisons out the way first. This isn't as grand feeling as LoTR. Filmed in New Zealand using some of the same epic countryside the film feels like a huge set, it doesn't feel like any of it was set outside in the beautiful country. It's clear that the characters are mostly filmed against blue/green screen and that these days is a disappointment.
The acting from the four children is uniformly great. The voice acting from the animals is good and the CG effects bringing them to life is well done. Liam Neeson playing the father of Aslan does okay, but I felt most Hollywood leading men could have done the job just as well. Tilda Swinton starts off fantastically in her chilling seduction of Edmund (Skandar Keynes), but becomes dull in the middle. A little hamming as the villain can be forgiven, even giving the role a panto feel. She pulls it back for the Stone Table scene only to lose it again in the final battle.
To make the film rating lower (PG in the UK) the film is very sterile. The massive closing battle is relatively 'clean', little blood being spilt. Big as it is you never feel lost, you always know what's going on. Griffons spiral in beautifully, monsters clash with each other with bone crunching speed. The end, again is clean and comes with an abrupt speed leaving me feeling let down.
Andrew Adamson does well. There are a few lighter moments but his tone is too uneven and I found myself glancing at my watch to see how much longer there was until the action picked up again.
A good children's film (maybe a bit dark for younger children in places) and a good starting place for any further films, but could have done so much more.