The Chronicles of Narnia

‘The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe’ is one of my all-time favorite novels. I have a tradition of reading it before Christmas every year, with a bowl of ice cream and preferably in front of a warm fire. Where many of my friends looked to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I was a Narnia fan.

To say I was nervous about a live-action movie being made of this book is an understatement.

I loved it.

There were some things I would have done very differently, had I been in charge. But I think that is true of any fan of any book being made into a movie. In this case, like in Lord of the Rings, the movie makers felt they needed to change things to speed up the storytelling in certain areas, yet overly extended other scenes to lend more drama to the story. However, they managed to maintain the feeling and the intent of the story throughout. And some of the changes felt like ones made for more sophisticated audiences; as though the filmmakers felt that children today would be able to understand and follow along better than in the book, so they could skip some of the story.

Now, as with the LotR movies, there are some things to quibble over. The beginning feels a little long, not much, but just a little. There is a little in the middle that could have been trimmed or re-edited to be a shorter for the movie audience. A few of the important lessons from the novel were lost or minimized for the movie.

However, the overall movie stays on topic and has the same feeling to it that I get from the book. I am reminded a great deal of the book and movie for Jaws. The book and movie are very different, but equally good, with the movie maintaining the same feel and dread but getting there through different means.

Now, to specifics: This movie is for kids, but it is played for realism, so some smaller children may be upset by some of the more violent fight scenes or scared by the White Witch’s evil. I think it would be safe for 8 and up, but wouldn’t take younger children. The acting is pretty good throughout, with Tilda Swinton eating up scenery as the White Witch; she alternates between being beautiful and wicked, warm and cold, fawning and harsh with ease. The voice actors chosen for the characters are very good and convincing. My only disappointment was that I felt Aslan’s voice didn’t have the majesty I would have preferred. Liam Neeson does a serviceable job, but I expected more from Aslan.

The movie has a similar feel to it as the LotR movies, or Harry Potter, without being as dark or foreboding as either of those series. The effects are good throughout, but adults will see the CGI on the animals—children will likely not notice or care. Children will be enamored of the story and I think the movie could act as a nice lead-in to reading the books. Oh, and there is a surprisingly good song over the credits by Alannis Morissette that I thoroughly enjoyed. By the way, sit through the first 2 minutes of the credits, as there is a little tie-me-up right after the initial scroll of actors. After this, there are no other special credit scenes (sat through them until the end, as I do with most movies).

As to the “religious overtones;” if you’ve read the book, you know that you have to stretch pretty far to see Lewis’s Christianity in the book. To sum up the entire Christian themes in the movie: there are some allegorical similarities between Aslan and Jesus and the children are referred to as “Sons of Adam” and “Daughters of Eve.” Oh, and Santa Claus makes an appearance, but he’s only recently been co-opted by Christianity, so I don’t think that should count. You will only really see the Christianity if you want to, so don’t let any of the advertising that is skewing religious turn you off from what is a rousing story of good versus evil in a land where animals talk.

I will likely see this movie again, and will certainly buy it on DVD.