The Charms of Narnia

The much-anticipated film version of C. S. Lewis's classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, opens this weekend. It is a well-crafted rendering of the first of the Chronicles of Narnia books, and families will be grateful that Walden and Disney have made the  film possible.

While the movie follows the main plot lines of the book, it is not entirely consistent in its tone. It starts and ends as a charming fantasy for children--somewhat like The Wizard of Oz, with a touch of something like The Princess Bride--and achieves stunning success as such. Lucy's entrance into Narnia is nothing short of magical. Her wonder is palpable. I can't think of anything I have seen since Dorothy dropped into Oz that takes the viewer more effectively into an enchanted place. It's so good that I regret one can only experience if for the first time, obviously, only once. Perhaps it is all the more effective in contrast to the world at war depicted in harrowing opening sequences of the bombing of London.

Lucy (Georgie Henley), Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy), and the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) are the most compelling performances; Peter, Edmund and Susan are adequate but not remarkable. Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan is sufficient weighty and dignified and manly (!) for the King of Beasts. The Beavers provide the film's comic element.

Where the filmmakers went a bit off course is in trying to beef up some of the action sequences. Some (not all) of the scenes in the middle section of the film seem like Narnia on steroids, points at which the director veers more toward the realism and epic action of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and away from the more children's fairy tale tone of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The depiction of the flight of the three children and Mr. & Mrs. Beaver from the pursuit of the White Witch is a case in point. The enchanting changing of the seasons from winter to spring falls too much into the background, overshadowed by the special effects of the spring thaw: a narrow escape on ice chunks on a roaring river swamps the magical revolution taking place in the natural order. A crashing waterfall adds a special effects exclamation point. The flowers appearing later seem an afterthought.

The director should trust the story to carry the movie. Even Father Christmas does make his appearance, but only after a high speed sequence that seems forced into the original story. 

Some of the characters surrounding Aslan during the execution scene seem like extras from the Lord of The Rings, and the CGI battle visuals, while executed well, is the sort of thing moviegoers are getting used to. But audiences will not likely complain; one teenager in the screening audience declared the film better than the Harry Potter series.

Fortunately the strength of the main plot, the charm of Lucy, Mr. Tumnus, and their initial encounter in the newly discovered Narnia, not to mention the perfectly played icy wickedness of the White Witch, along with the final Narnia sequence with the White Stag and the return through the wardrobe, all hold the film together enough for me to give the film a B. And without the action hype it could have been an A.

Aslan lives, the children live happily ever after, but even have time for more adventures to come by slipping back into our world, awaiting the next opening into Narnia. It's a promising start to what most viewers will want to become a full series. But, please, we can do without the steroids.

Comments

[joe]

"I accept Aslan as my personal saviour."

[dennis]

The Narnia movie was an unpleasant experience for me. The characters--with a few exceptions--were good yet, saccharine. The air time given to the development of evil outweighed that given to good. The White Witchs' presence, or nearly constant fear of her, was more dominant overall having more impact even...than Aslans'! This resulted off-handedly, in her glorification by overstating her scope and power. While obviously she figured prominently in the book, this amplification is something Lewis did not do. Apart from all this, how do you tell your ten year old (who has read the books) that they can't see the movie with the same wholesome name.

[Anita Charms]

It was my favorite book in childhood. And Ireaad it some 20 times. And now after more than 10 years I watched the film with the same old feeling.