The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (the movie) review
If you want to like this movie, don't read this review. It will just point out things that you might not have noticed.
I try not to spoil any of the specifics, so I speak in general terms.
The Story:
All the characters were as flat as could be. As soon as one showed signs of having some inner conflict, they said 'oh, nevermind' and became who they were for the rest of the story.
As a kid I mustn't have noticed all the Christian overtones of the story. But as an adult, they were so obvious and numerous, it began to grate, and worse, became predictable.
Even suspending my disbelief of a wardrobe being a gateway to a fantasy world called Narnia with all sorts (there were many) of fantastic intelligent creatures, I found the reactions of the children often very unbeleivable, and frequently confusing.
The story was simple. This is neither a good or bad thing. It is, after all, a children's story. And I think the movie reflects that. But, I'm not sure that I would recommend this almost two and a half hour movie for children. The begining is very slow. It may have been that I watched the show starting at midnight, but I was actually losing interest for the first half hour to 45 minutes. And I don't think that the message that everything can be solved through violence is a good one for children.
The Movie:
The scenery was beautiful. The costumes were great. The make-up and creature effects were so flawless that no doubts that what we were seeing was real (even though they were make-up and CGI). But some of the CGI was lacking realism. To date, I think that only Yoda and Gollum were done convincingly enough to be believed as characters. I couldn't help but watch Aslan and see a decent CGI. I never could let go and see him as a real breathing character. I never cared what happened to that collection of pixels. The Fawn's legs were shaky (there were a few chuckles in the crowd). But the rest of the CGI was great.
The actors playing the children didn't have much to work with. But they could have done more. I know, they're kids. But some of the line delivery was laughable. And indeed the crowd laughed at a couple spots.
With the CGI character (Aslan) not real and the children not believable, that left Tilda Swinton to try and carry the movie. And she almost did it. As with her last major movie, Constantine, she brought some much needed realism and emotion. I found myself rooting for her by the end of the movie.
Overall:
You may want to watch this with your older kids, or maybe as a religious study. But I found myself disinterested and wishing that the end would come soon. I think that was the general attitude of the audience too. The screen faded to black and people got up to leave. Then an epilogue started to play. I didn't see anyone even pause to watch it.
If you want to like this movie, don't read this review. It will just point out things that you might not have noticed.
I try not to spoil any of the specifics, so I speak in general terms.
The Story:
All the characters were as flat as could be. As soon as one showed signs of having some inner conflict, they said 'oh, nevermind' and became who they were for the rest of the story.
As a kid I mustn't have noticed all the Christian overtones of the story. But as an adult, they were so obvious and numerous, it began to grate, and worse, became predictable.
Even suspending my disbelief of a wardrobe being a gateway to a fantasy world called Narnia with all sorts (there were many) of fantastic intelligent creatures, I found the reactions of the children often very unbeleivable, and frequently confusing.
The story was simple. This is neither a good or bad thing. It is, after all, a children's story. And I think the movie reflects that. But, I'm not sure that I would recommend this almost two and a half hour movie for children. The begining is very slow. It may have been that I watched the show starting at midnight, but I was actually losing interest for the first half hour to 45 minutes. And I don't think that the message that everything can be solved through violence is a good one for children.
The Movie:
The scenery was beautiful. The costumes were great. The make-up and creature effects were so flawless that no doubts that what we were seeing was real (even though they were make-up and CGI). But some of the CGI was lacking realism. To date, I think that only Yoda and Gollum were done convincingly enough to be believed as characters. I couldn't help but watch Aslan and see a decent CGI. I never could let go and see him as a real breathing character. I never cared what happened to that collection of pixels. The Fawn's legs were shaky (there were a few chuckles in the crowd). But the rest of the CGI was great.
The actors playing the children didn't have much to work with. But they could have done more. I know, they're kids. But some of the line delivery was laughable. And indeed the crowd laughed at a couple spots.
With the CGI character (Aslan) not real and the children not believable, that left Tilda Swinton to try and carry the movie. And she almost did it. As with her last major movie, Constantine, she brought some much needed realism and emotion. I found myself rooting for her by the end of the movie.
Overall:
You may want to watch this with your older kids, or maybe as a religious study. But I found myself disinterested and wishing that the end would come soon. I think that was the general attitude of the audience too. The screen faded to black and people got up to leave. Then an epilogue started to play. I didn't see anyone even pause to watch it.
VIEW 16 of 16 COMMENTS
I'll check it out!
BJs is awesome they sell this mondo box of microwavable kettle corn *drool*. Yeah so call me sometime and we can figure something out. Where did you guys go for lunch?