The Chronicles of Narnia


Living up to how I imagined a book I've read many times since childhood...priceless

High expectations for The Chronicles of Narnia? You bet. I had 'em. I've read the entire series of books many times, both as a child and even in adulthood. I've given the set to more than one child a a gift. I'm among those who have said Allegory? Schmallegory. It's a ripping good yarn.

I've never seen other attempts to depict the story, either animated or live-action, because the books never seemed cartoony to me, yet I could easily see them being treated as such. Talking animals, child protagonists. Yikes. That's an accident waiting to happen.

Never fear, the Kiwis are here again to take the stories I saw only in my imagination and bring them to life. Aided by the same special effects outfit that helped Peter Jackson turn the Lord of the Rings into an epic masterpiece, director Andrew Adamson is able to fully leverage live-action, CGI, animatronics and other effects to create the world of Narnia.

Is it quite as 100% seamless as LOTR? I'd have to say no. There are several scenes where the superimposition of the human characters against panoramic vistas looks exactly like the layered visual effects that they are. But those few moments only stand out because 95% of the film is visually stunning. Particularly impressive are the battle scenes where multiple species of creatures, both real and fantastical, run alongside each other and battle together without a hitch.

One of the things I most liked about the movie was that it was not a movie of all loud and bombastic and action-y scenes. The movie knew when to be quiet and still too. The score may seem low-key to many, because we're used to epic films with scores that are a dominating part of the film, but I enjoyed this score just as much for its subtlety and selectivity. The afore mentioned battle scenes, though, are intense and scary and violent. This is not a young child's movie. Especially since the protagonists are but children themselves, and are often in real danger and engaging in real fighting.

And speaking of those children...the casting is critical and, in this case, perfect. Most critical is the casting of Lucy, played by Georgie Henley and Edmund, played by Skandar Keynes. Henley is adorable without being cutesy and intelligent without being needlessly precocious. Keynes is cranky and disgruntled and sullen and you're perfectly willing to buy that he'd succumb to the rather dubious charms of Tilda Swinton as the White Witch.

Swinton, by the way, is one of the strongest elements of the movie...she is hard-core and hard-edged and cold as ice. She is believable in a battle and evil in a steely, steadfast way. She is accompanied by some great creatures...the wolf secret police, her nasty little dwarf aide de camp, and her general, the Minotaur. On the side of good Liam Neeson provides a stalwart voice for Aslan, the noble Lion (oh, yeah, and Christ-figure if you're into the allegory stuff.) And there are lots of centaurs and gryphons and other cool creatures on that side too.

Adamson and his writers have done a tremendous job making an epic movie that is a livable length of 2 hours, not 3! I missed nothing from the story, and thought every aspect lived up to my imagination. I would highly recommend this movie to movie goers with our without childrend in tow, and would, in fact, remind you that this is a bit to intense for children, probably until they're about 9 or 10!

Posted: Mon - December 26, 2005 at 10:59 AM       EmailFeedback

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