The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

The fantasy genre owes much of its existance to the works of two
writers, friends that often relied on each other for help with their
prose. J.R.R. Tolkien penned the epic Lord of the Rings and Hobbit
series of stories and C.S. Lewis introduced the world to Narnia. Unless
you’ve been hidden in an orc cave for the past 5 years, you’ll know
that Tolkien’s books have spawned one of the highest grossing and
highest quality movie trilogies ever made. Now, it looks to be Lewis’
turn at silver screen sucess as Disney and Walden Media bring the first
of what looks to be many of the Chronicles of Narnia to audiences.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is the story of 4 siblings sent
away from their mother and their home in England to escape the bombing
runs during World War 2. They are put into the ward of a reclusive
professor and his steely-eyed housekeeper in a gigantic manor.
Naturally, the kids are bored and often frustrated with their
situation. Trying to pass the day shortly after arriving, the children
start up a game of hide and seek that leads them to discover a large
wardrobe of fur coats that magically transports them to a frozen world
of talking animals, evil witches and mythical creatures. The children
find themselves at the center of a prophecy to free Narnia from the
White Witch and to end the everlasting winter of the world.

Like Lord of the Rings, Narnia encompasses a large arcing story, and
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the first of what likely could
be many film-chapters. This film is special effects laden, yet holds
steady to a solid story foundation of morality and self-worth. In fact,
it’s hard not to see the strong biblical undertones and similiarities
of the ‘holy’ sense, one reason Disney chose to market so heavily to
Christian and family groups. Thankfully, save for one brief moment in
the film, the thelogical themes never overwhelm the story.

First time live action director, Andrew Adamson, previously directed
both Shrek movies, but makes a smooth transition to dangerous
territory. The challenge being to work with kids, animals and turning a
much loved classic piece of literature into a special effects
blockbuster. He pulls it off with nearly Peter Jackson calibur and
creates a fantastic on-screen adventure for any age audience. My only
disappointment was with the consistancy of the effects. 20-30 minutes
into the movie, it was clear to me that the special effects budget was
blown on the creation of Aslan the lion, King of Narnia. The character
was beautiful, incredibly realistic and its presence amongst the live
actors was convincing. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other
effects instances. Many shots looked like the actors were standing in
front of a painting and a scene in which the children cross a frozen
lake looks plastic, taking away the sense of urgency and danger.

Narnia severly wants to be Lord of the Rings, and it had immense
potential to be just that, but doesn’t quite hit the Peter Jackson /
WETA Effects mark. Regardless Narnia proves to be a must-see for the
holiday season, a no brainer DVD buy come 2006 and the start of what
could be a highly succesful franchise.