Quick Links
Search
SEARCH THIS SITE:
SEARCH THE WEB:
SEARCH THE WEB:
Categories
Sponsored Links
SilverDragon's Pages
Contact
Syndicate this site 
Send an Email Archives
Browse all archives by date
| Recent archives | ||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Current conditions
Valley Village, California
The last recorded mood of the SilverDragon was:
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Oct 08, 2008 10:45 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Oct 08, 2008 10:45 PM
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"
Review
The Professor gives it an
A-.
IMDB.com plot outline: Based on the classic novel by CS Lewis. Four London children are sent to a professors country home for protection during World War II. There they find a magic wardrobe which leads to a mystical land called Narnia, which is being ruled by an evil witch. To defeat the Witch, they must join forces with Aslan, the lion ruler of Narnia, and the great battle between good and evil.
It's true to the book. Now, in movies, that can be good ("Gone With the Wind") or bad ("Dune"). In this case, it's a shrug.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't remember that much about the book from when I was a child. I ran into the Narnia chronicles with "Lion, Witch, Wardrobe" when I was twelve. I was not inspired to immediately read the entire series, which given my voracious reading habits, tells you something right there.
As I sat through the movie, I was delighted with the visual effects. The battle scenes were inspiring, the Witch suitably evil, the Lion noble. The various creatures were cleverly done (it didn't help that I saw this at a SIGGRAPH screening, so I endured two hours of lecture on the visual effects. I could entertain you for pages with details of exactly how to match live action to animation for fauns and centaurs, not to mention lion articulate speech... No?)
But the ending just ruined it for me... (spoilers ahead)
IMDB.com plot outline: Based on the classic novel by CS Lewis. Four London children are sent to a professors country home for protection during World War II. There they find a magic wardrobe which leads to a mystical land called Narnia, which is being ruled by an evil witch. To defeat the Witch, they must join forces with Aslan, the lion ruler of Narnia, and the great battle between good and evil.
It's true to the book. Now, in movies, that can be good ("Gone With the Wind") or bad ("Dune"). In this case, it's a shrug.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't remember that much about the book from when I was a child. I ran into the Narnia chronicles with "Lion, Witch, Wardrobe" when I was twelve. I was not inspired to immediately read the entire series, which given my voracious reading habits, tells you something right there.
As I sat through the movie, I was delighted with the visual effects. The battle scenes were inspiring, the Witch suitably evil, the Lion noble. The various creatures were cleverly done (it didn't help that I saw this at a SIGGRAPH screening, so I endured two hours of lecture on the visual effects. I could entertain you for pages with details of exactly how to match live action to animation for fauns and centaurs, not to mention lion articulate speech... No?)
But the ending just ruined it for me... (spoilers ahead)
I hate it when "The little girl fell out of bed and
woke up," or in this case fell out of the wardrobe. The implication that Narnia
is really there, but we can't go back again would have spoiled the story for me
at twelve, and for darn sure did now. Neverland, all over again. Blah. I want
my fantasy worlds realistic and gritty, thank you very much, and accessible to
the characters, if not to me.
Still, I enjoyed it right up until the end. And I definitely would pay money to see it if I hadn't seen it for free already. So go for the fauns and the centaurs and the battle and the magic and pretty darn good looking swords and armor. And shake your head at Lewis' gutless ending.
Still, I enjoyed it right up until the end. And I definitely would pay money to see it if I hadn't seen it for free already. So go for the fauns and the centaurs and the battle and the magic and pretty darn good looking swords and armor. And shake your head at Lewis' gutless ending.
Posted: Mon - December 19, 2005 at 07:29 PM | | | | |