THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

Director: Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2)
Starring: Tilda Swinton, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, voice of Liam Neeson)

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, which is not to say that I found nothing to fault, just that I had a very good time throughout. It’s a classic story for good reason, and this production was mainly true to it. Oh, there were a few Hollywood-isms that would pop up now and again in the great final battle, such as silly, overdone swordplay and whatnot, and there's no denying that they turned the great battle into a Lord of the Rings’ type spectacle. Yes, this film tried to be a little bit of everything to everyone. Direct from the book was the Christian symbolism for the Jesus set and the humorous beavers and fauns for the kids, but the massive CGI spectacle was all Hollywood for the PG13 crowd. I’m pleased to say that although this was no masterpiece, I can’t fault them in the slightest for their attempts to sell tickets. Most of what was on the screen worked well.

And now on to Jesus. Yes, this story is vaguely allegorical, or at least it's heavy with Christian symbolism, with its sacrificial Lion, Aslan, Peter the high king on earth, and raging battle between good and evil. Here’s the kicker though: it’s quite a bit more than that. CS Lewis was smart enough to get many of the important and wonderful bits of the Christian tale and plug them into a rip-roaring story of great originality. This is not The Passion of the Christ, where the ‘true believers’ can wallow in their in own persecution. This is a story of imagination, sacrifice, great adventure, love, and childish delight (and Turkish Delight) for all people who can appreciate such things. Despite a handful of lines that I suspect are modern additions to the story to appease the worries of the current crop of faithful, I certainly did.

Of particular note in this film was the use of CGI. Aslan the Lion was extraordinarily well done with Liam Neeson voicing him to perfection in sad, yet strong tones. This was a beautiful digital fantasyland that exceeded most anything I’ve seen before. Additionally, I must give praise to Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. She gave a wonderful, fearsome performance.

Standouts: Great story, very good use of CGI, wonderfully imaginative.
Blowouts: A few (rather cheesy) modern additions for the benefit of our current crop of Christians, and/or the PG13 crowd.

Grade: A-

12/15/2005