Although C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia have been a part of the public consciousness since before I was born I myself did not read them until 5 or 6 years ago. I ended up re-reading some of the books to my daughter and am really familiar with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I have to admit that I was somewhat worried that the movie would not live up to my expectations but I needn’t have been. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was every bit as good as the trailers indicated.
I make it a habit to stay away from reviews until after I have seen a movie mostly because I do not want anything to be spoiled for me but since I knew this story well I occasionally looked at forums to see what the rumors were. The most frequently discussed topic seemed to be whether or not the special effects would meet people’s expectations. Could WETA, who made motion picture history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, do it again? One of the things that helped with the realism of the digital characters in LOTR is that the color palette of the movie was darker which helped digital and real characters blend together in the scene. LW2 was a much bolder, brighter movie and I must say WETA did a wonderful job. The crowning achievement of the movie was, of course, Aslan and he looked incredible. Every hair on his mane was lifelike and realistic. It was marvelous. The other creatures inhabiting Narnia were terrific as well. I especially enjoyed the beavers. The other unknown was how a group of relatively unknown child actors would do with such a beloved classic tale.
Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and William Moseley played Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter Pevensie. The four Pevensie children are wisked away to Professor Kirke’s country estate to protect them from London air raids during WWII. While there young Lucy stumbles across a wardrobe during a game of hide and seek through which she enters the magical world of Narnia. This is truly one of my favorite moments in both the book and the film. Lucy is the Pevensie child that I enjoy the most and Georgie Henley did a wonderful job of conveying the innocence and awe of a child whose imagination is at its peak. I love the scenes between her and Mr. Tumnus (played terrifically by James McAvoy). Lucy and Mr. Tumnus talking over tea and toast is just such a comforting scene. The other actors/actresses did well also. Edmund was just dislikable enough to believe that he would do the selfish things he does and yet not so much as to cause the viewer to write off the character. Anna Popplewell did a great job of conveying the fact that Susan is at that uncomfortable age between childhood and adulthood and does not feel confident in either role. William Moseley’s Peter was played just right…brave enough to do what needed to be done to protect his family but no so brave as to look superhero-ish. My favorites next to Georgie Henley (Lucy) and James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus) was Jim Broadbent as Professor Kirke. The scenes between the professor and the children were terrific and I wish he could’ve factored into the story more. A number of people left the theatre at the “end” of the movie only to miss the very poignant moment between Lucy and the Professor. For me that scene alone made the whole movie wonderful.
In the few negative reviews that LW2 has garnered the most common complaint is either the “preachiness” of the story or that it was just too simplistic. My response to that is these reviewers must have not read the book as the movie stays very close to the letter and spirit of the novel. C. S. Lewis was very open about the religious allegory in these stories and yet they are written (and the movie was filmed) in such a way that you can read into them whatever you like. The story is very simple on some levels but one must remember it was a story written in the 50’s for children. Some reviewers complained about the violence being glossed over and dumbed down to get a PG rating but the fact of the matter is that it played out onscreen like it does in the books. There are not long, bloody accounts of the battle in the book. It is presented in such a way to be understandable and palatable for young children. I admire the fact that they stayed true to the spirit of the book and didn’t try to amp up the violence, etc. to make the movie more appealing to the LOTR crowd. There is just the right amount of humor, adventure, magic and suspense to appeal to the whole family. Despite the PG rating there are some scenes, the one at the stone table for example, that are fairly dark with scary creatures that may frighten some young children.
Reading the books as an adult the thing that struck me the most was the idea of these children living out full lives in Narnia and then suddenly being brought back to the here and now only moments after they left. It is a somewhat haunting idea that brings with it a bit of melancholy. Although his onscreen time was brief I see this melancholic longing for Narnia in the attitude of the professor. The books/movie give the idea that the knowledge of Narnia fades into a dreamlike quality (as does the real world when you are in Narnia) which somewhat explains how a person could go back to living a “normal” life after years of living and ruling in a magical realm but the whole idea has always been somewhat sad and fascinating for me. To me the idea is akin to the occasional longing for childhood one can experience at different times in life.
Overall I found the movie to be a wonderful experience and while it doesn’t come close to replacing the Lord of the Rings films in my affections it is a marvelous cinematic rendering of a beloved classic children’s tale.
wow, Narnia was better than i thought it’d be. and stayed pretty close to the book the whole way through!
(I moved this over to this post Angela, hope that is okay)
lol, cool thanks
i was(am) so happy about this movie, my teeth are still giggling – i agree with you, the movie stayed suprisingly true to the book and i’m so happy they waited for technology to be able to make the creatures in the books look so real.
i was esp. pleased with the four main children – acting looks and all were such a good fit.
(Mr Tumnus and Aslan were still my favorite 🙂
I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s definitely on my list!
My family and I loved the film too. Our children are 6 and 9 years old and they both loved it too. My son who is six was scared a couple of times but with some soft words and hug he made it past those moments. His words when the movie was over were ” can we go buy it now “. Kids are so funny.
The special effects were great and now I really can’t wait to see King Kong!
The reviews I read are that it was a LOTR wannabe. How ridiculous. Obviously did not read the book! One of these days soon we will see it though without kids, probably too violent for Julian. If jeff’s 6 year old was scared I know Julian would be. Looks great! K.Kong next week!!!
I really enjoyed the movie. The actors did a wonderful job. I agree with mysfit – Aslan and Mr. Tumnus were awesome! The Beavers were pretty cool too. I am so glad that they stayed true to the story.
I agree with Jeff’s kiddo; let’s go buy it today!
true Tom, ridiculous since Tolkein wrote his books inspired by Lewis’.
another thing that really impressed me was the how they brought thru emotion in Aslan’s face. he actually looked sad at times… couldn’t have done that very many years ago.
Are you sure about that Angela? Tolkien wrote Hobbit about 15 years before Lewis wrote Narnia and was working on parts of what became The Silmarillion before that but they and their other writer friends fed off each other. It took him 12 years to finish the LOTR trilogy and perhaps Tolkien was inspired to finally finish his work once Lewis began publishing a book series with a created world of his own. Tolkien was vehemently outspoken against the Narnia books, hated them with a passion, and this caused a several year split up of their friendship. Tolkien despised allegories and despite being the one who converted Lewis hated the way Lewis spread his religious beliefs. I think it annoyed Tolkien also how easy it was for Lewis to create his own world as well since it took him so much longer to do what he was doing.
Tolkien’s inspiration was the norse myths and old romance tales like Beowulf. He regreted that England did not have its own mythology and sought to both create one as well as write a tale in the vein of those tales that he loved as a boy.
On the movie front I was glad they stayed away from the temptation to make parts of this like the Lord of the Rings films because they could’ve easily done so and that would have been a mistake. The LOTR films are infinitely superior is compared side by side but Narnia is a completely different animal and I’m glad they stuck with the book and presented this in its own way so that the movies don’t have to be compared to one another in that way.
Ah, as my trackback has just appeared here I suppose I don’t need to mention that I’ve just posted my review.
I really enjoyed the film, but don’t think it was as good as it could have been. And at the moment I doubt I’d buy it on dvd.
Tilda Swinton was great as the White Witch though, so maybe I’d get it just for her parts.
funny, i heard that they were friends & Tolkein got his inspiration from Lewis (not necessarily Narnia books).
either way, other than being fantasy, they don’t have that much in common. and i place Lewis’ works way above Tolkein’s. but that’s my personal preference.
They were friends for years and the two of them plus a few other guys met regularly and read their works in progress to each other, etc. and all inspired each other in that manner, but Tolkien began work on early stuff that would make its way into LOTR while he was in WWI. Tolkien was instrumental in converting Lewis but then Lewis joinged the Anglican church (I believe) and Tolkien being Roman Catholic was quite offended by this and by Lewis’ outspoken religious views. They both were very serious about their beliefs but I think Tolkien was just a more orthodox person regarding his beliefs while Lewis was more open and talkative (especially in literary form) about things. Tolkien may have been a bit jealous also as to how quickly Lewis was able to write and publish the Narnia works compared to the years it was taking him to write the sequel to the Hobbit. I also think Lewis’ relationship with a married woman also caused a riff in their relationship. Lewis was very instrumental in getting Tolkien to finish LOTR as he regularly encouraged him in his work. A commonly held belief which is probably true is that had they not been friends we as readers may never have been priveleged to read either LOTR or the Narnia books as their friendship and the things that came out of that influenced every part of their writing. I’m sure they both took some inspiration from each other being friends with very similar literary likes and dislikes but the Narnia books where something Tolkien just despised and they fell out of friendship for a time before mending their relationship in later years. I think Tolkien softened a bit in the end.
I imagine there have been plenty of arguments over the years about whose works are better. I think they both are great and I enjoyed the Narnia books and have enjoyed what I’ve read of Tolkien’s work. I think Tolkien’s work is ultimately more complex and has a more rich back story but that doesn’t make it better necessarily. It would have been interesting to see what the two of them could’ve done had they had the ability to collaborate with one another.
After I submitted this I found this article which is short but summarizes better than I have their relationship. Its actually quite good. I love that despite the fact that he publicly disliked the Narnia books that he gave gifts of them to his grandchildren.
Interesting stuff.
I myself liked the Narnia movie better than the LOTR because they weren’t as dark. Not to mention that, although I adored the hobbits, I had an easier time connecting with the human children.
I’m off to read that article now!
omg i think Mr.Tumnus
Mr.Tumnus is so hot
hi
Mr.tumnus is so hot i want to marry him
Mr.Tumnus is so mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and hot and so sexy
So…..you didn’t really like Mr. Tumnus then, did you? 😉