Movie Review - The Chronicles of Narnia
Posted by Administrator on December 22nd, 2005
Based on C.S. Lewis’ timeless classic, The Chronicles of Narnia tells the tale of four young siblings — Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter — during World War II. In an attempt to protect the children from the Nazi bombings in urban England, they are sent to an estate in the countryside to safely ride out the war.
It is within the confines of this house that the children happen upon a wardrobe while playing a game of hide and seek. What they find in this wardrobe is a portal to the magical world of Narnia. The children enter this strange world filled with otherworldly creatures. There they discover what was once a peaceful land that is inhabited by centaurs, dwarfs, and other friendly talking beasts.
But Narnia is under the spell of the evil White Witch, Jadis. Jadis has cursed the land to eternal winter. The children, with the assistance of the noble Lion King, Aslan, work to break the witch’s spell and restore Narnia to the peaceful and enchanting place it once was.
For the most part, Narnia doesn’t disappoint. It stays true to the book in terms of plot and characters. The one problem I do have with movies such as this is that the Narnia you see on screen could probably never live up to the Narnia one has pictured within their own imagination after reading the book. While I felt that emotionally the movie still struck the right cord, it just did not, and could not ever, match the vision I’ve held of Narnia since I first read the book as a child.
The other problem I had with this movie is that, it’s supposed to be geared towards children, yet, quite frankly, I would think twice before bringing children to this movie, as some of the scenes are fairly scary and violent.
On a related note, I must also say that when “blue screen” technology and CGI effects were first seen in movies they seemed cutting edge and awe inspiring. Maybe I’m just becoming jaded, but to me these special effects nowadays just seem to be anti-climactic and overused. Just my two cents.
Overall the performances in this movie were wonderful. Tilda Swinton, (from The Beach
In general, I would recommend this movie as a good holiday outing. Despite some reservations about young children finding the movie too scary, the Chronicles of Narnia should have you leaving the theater feeling satisfied.
Did you find this move as enjoyable as I did? Let me know what you think by adding your comment below.
January 15th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
A fun movie to watch. This movie reminded me of how magical a child’s world can be!
Once the four children enter the land of Narnia, the movie deals masterfully with the issue of betrayal by Edmund of his brother and sisters. The movie displays strongly the battle between good and evil. In particular, the witch Jadis was well performed by actress Tilda Swinton.
Narnia has a nice touch of humour (the husband-and-wife beavers will make you smile).
I enjoyed the movie’s special effects - in particular, the animals were spectacular. The most courageous animal of the movie is, of course, Aslan the lion.
I think some scenes are a bit too violent for young children.
I recommend this movie – especially if you are open to the idea of entering a world of make-believe!
January 26th, 2006 at 10:17 am
First and foremost I need to say that this film is one of the most visually beautiful seen in a long time. The relationships between the brothers and sisters is admirable, the world of Narnia magical in all ways and the computer graphics excellent. Now that we have got that out the way , I can honestly say that it was quite dissapointing overall. Yes, the children were sweet and believable but ultimately it was sickening. Never have I seen a young family speak to each other in such a pretentious, ridiculous way - it was disgusting. If my sisters were that nice all the time to me I think I would kill myself. The story was interesting enough but as someone who wasn’t ever a fan of the books I found it watchable but nevertheless boring and by the, what 100th hour of the film I felt like walking out of the cinema, not caring what happened next to the smarmy children and their well-made wardrobe - and rarely do I feel this way about a film.
Despite all these criticisms, however, the film is very friendly and doesn’t seek to annoy or hurt. For a young audience or older audience who are fans of the books I would highly recommend it. If you go looking for something thought-provoking or revolutionary I wouldn’t bother. I just feel that we, as an audience, are being less and less challeneged and my dissapointment is probably fueling my appeared anger. I genuinely hope that you enjoy this film more than I did and hope that if I see it again I pick up on something I missed and maybe I misjudged the film as I had been walking around half of Scotland during the day before I sat down to watch this at night.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:32 am
[…] Disney announced that it is producing a sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will be based on the third instalment of C.S. Lewis’s seven-book Narnia series. The new movie is expected to be released towards the end of 2007. […]
April 14th, 2009 at 8:37 am
[…] Disney announced that it is producing a sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will be based on the third instalment of C.S. Lewis’s seven-book Narnia series. The new movie is expected to be released towards the end of 2007. […]