A very simple fantasy story made into a very simple movie with spectacular results

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2006)

The box office record of USA does make sense when comparing the Narnia movie to King Kong. Although the latter is a better movie in my book, there are a sizeable few who didn't like it. But Narnia is a movie that everyone can like & enjoy - from Kids to Parents, Guys & Girls.
The movie starts off with an introduction of the Pevensie children in the middle of an Air Raid during World War II. Promptly, their mom packs them away to the country house of an Elderly uncle where soon they discover a wardrobe that opens into the Magical Land of Narnia. A once peaceful and serene land of talking beasts is now taken over by the Evil Witch Jadis, plummeting the world into a perpetual winter. The children are there as a part of a prophecy that the witch would be defeated, and warmth will shine on Narnia again.
Adam Anderson successfully makes a movie that, unlike the Harry Potter series, never tries too hard to be grand. And for the same reason it becomes a wonderfully grand piece. Here is again a director who really knows his subject well, and you can sense his understanding of the world from the creative liberty he takes with the story. The extended opening scene, the prep & actual battle are not in the book at all. Yet he unfolds it like it were from the mind of C S Lewis himself. He also presents the movie from a beautiful eye, which more than helps to make this a lock for the home-video market. Although the CGI of the movie is at its best it is not unlike the best that we have already seen. That makes it less noticeable and more awe-worthy. This combined with good voice-work, the talking animals come across with all authenticity and no corniness. The children themselves do a good job of acting in the company of these imaginary creatures, with the best turn coming from the second youngest: Edmund, mainly because of the dilemma he faces.
At the end, it all works because it is a very simple fantasy story made into a very simple movie with spectacular results.
My Rating ---> 4/5