Excellent Movie

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2005)

It is rare that I enjoy a movie so thoroughly. CS Lewis' writings were a staple of my childhood. Any time the original BBC productions would come on PBS, I would be very much glued to the TV screen.
I am also an avid fan of Tolkien's works. I found that I was disappointed after going to see Jackson's movies. I did not feel the same way at all after seeing this movie.
The movie retained much of the emotional weight that I think the LOTR's was lacking in. All of the moral lessons that were core to the book were also present in the movie without being preachy. The fact that the movie has "a point" other than just trying to tell a story makes it better than the great majority of movies released in Hollywood these days.
The story and the acting were excellent. I look at some of the Harry Potter movies (even the most recent ones) and I can't understand why those kids can't live up to the standard of acting set in Narnia.
There are few obvious faults to be found. The compression of the books' story line did not have a detrimental impact at all. The progression was natural and smooth and there were few changes that felt abrupt.
I look forward to reading through the papers on Monday to see the box-office earnings to try and discern if the other books will be made into movies (I hope so).