The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Siblings Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter step through a magical wardrobe and find the land of Narnia. There, they discover a charming, once peaceful kingdom that has been plunged into eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Aided by the wise and magnificent lion, Aslan, the children lead Narnia into a spectacular, climactic battle to be free of the Witch's glacial powers forever.
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Sadly Over-hyped
Perfect cast and a good story
Boring, long, and too preachy.
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
The director stays true to the book story and that is somthing that I really respect. Reading the book before watching the movie made me more careful to the detail in the movie, and I can say that the story is the same with just a very few minor changes. The age of the four main characters was a bit off, since they were supposed to be younger than the actors that played them, but the four actors were made for the roles. Perfect fit. The movie may not be made for those who are not aquainted with a bit more violante movies, since tehre are some scenes which may not be for very young viewers, but it is a great thing to watch with family.
As a 35-year-old I obviously remember the old BBC NARNIA SAGA. Good old cheap + kitsch yet charming and classy kids' TV it was, and particularly impressive considering the (then) innovative use of blue screen, and in a low-budget production!Can't say I think quite so much of this mind ! The child actors are all smug and trendy - trust me, you'll literally lose count of how many times 'LIKE' is used in their DVD commentary; it's every other word ! The effects are over-digital, plastic + generally fake, the acting over-sentimental and unconvincing, and the reassuring simplicity of the BBC version is replaced with a grandoise epic extravagance that defeats the objective of this being a mere children's fantasy novel. OK, so the score was quite beautiful - if a bit excessive for a kids' fantasy, thus reflecting the OTT style of the film in general - but why the trendy pop songs during the end credits? Overall, this is just plastic millennial crap ! It would at least have SOME merit if they'd featured an actor from the BBC version; think Jenny Agutter's roles in the 1970 + 2000 versions of The Railway Children.
I somehow did not watch this movie for 15 years, despite having enjoyed these books as a child and as a parent. I'm not totally positive what held me back, but it may have been the sense that even with great CGI (check), some strong performances (check), and faithfulness to the book (check) this would be hard to get totally right. I was mostly right about that. That said, we watched right after re-reading this book with my youngest, and I can say that it mostly worked. It is not LOTR (or anywhere close), but that's not a fair standard - especially for a children's book. The middle sagged, and the embellishments were unnecessary...but it was worth watching.
We watched this movie in family, two adults, one 12 years old boy and one 9 years old girl. Everybody liked the movie, especially the younger one. She liked very much Mr. Timnus and the animals (the beavers, "at the same time very cute and very serious !"). The boy thought the movie was good overall but was weak on some aspects, like the stone table resurrection. The adults enjoyed the visuals which were very beautiful and also appreciated the casting (Tilda Swinton is perfect as the which !) and the costumes. Overall an enjoyable family movie with some minor flaws.