Narnia (2005)
Posted in Movies by Harley
The Chronicles of Narnia is a re-make of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe which I loved as a young whipper-snapper. Both of them are based on one of seven books by C.S Lewis collectively known as The Chronicles of Narnia, which you should have read already or you’ve had a deprived child-hood.
The Plot
It’s about four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy who after being evacuated during World War I, find themselves and a huge house owned by an eccentric professor. During a game of hide-and-seek, Lucy (the youngest) hides in an old wardrobe in the Spare Oom and falls into a snowy forest-clearing with a lamp-post (my what a lot of hyphens). There she meets a faun called Tumnus who invites her to tea and she learns about how Narnia is ruled by an evil witch called the White Witch. The White Witch keeps the land covered over in snow and is of course.. ‘evil’ cos she’s an evil witch see. Mikey thought she was hot. Turns out she’s the evil chick in The Beach and Constantine as well.
So after that Lucy returns to the Spare Oom and tells her siblings, who don’t believe her of course and there’s a big malarky until all the children find themselves in Narnia and the whole story really begins.
The Review
What really surprised me was the level of acting. Usually when kids are stuck in front of a camera the whole film is ruined by their stuttering emotion-less dialogue (think the first three Harry Potter’s) and it’s difficult to follow the movie cos the acting is just so crap. The kids in this movie really could act. The characters, although not very deep, came across the same way as in the book (they didn’t have much depth there either).
The White Witch looked the part although when she first meets Edmund I did have to cringe a bit at the obvious change in her manner, it was too obvious. Throughout the rest of the film she did make me want to hide though.
I read that the only part that had a real lion (Aslan) was when he first came out of the tent. The special effects were awesome, they looked like real animals. No more “that shark is obviously rubber”, even the beavers persuaded me that real beavers talk.
I can’t say I enjoyed this version better than the 1988 made for TV version. The witch in that version was much scarier and the overall feel of the movie was darker. What I can say is that the interpretation and the “sucking-in” power of this one was stronger. When watching, it was easier to get absorbed in the story and to feel that Narnia really exists.
To sum up.. this version is great. It sticks to the original story mostly without getting bogged down in special effects or artsy fartsy rubbish. The acting was pretty good (although it was annoying trying to figure out who was doing the voices (I’d heard them before.. just couldn’t place them). If you’re a fan of C.S Lewis you just haveeee to see this one. If not, then you should broaden your reading list ;oP.
Links
»Buy The Chronicles of Narnia on DVD
»Buy The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe on VHS
»The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
»The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1988)
»Into the Wardrobe : A C.S Lewis web site.
