The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

There is a certain fascination to a story that requires several novels to unfold. Those tales that need maps and a lexicon to fully appreciate this universal that came from a fertile and imaginative mind. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth was one of the best of these. His fellow Oxford Don, C.S. Lewis also endeavored to create such a place with his tales of Narnia. The first of these books, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe now is a film and it was just a bit of bad timing that it came on the heels of the incredibly constructed and financially successful Lord of the Rings. The story opens in London during the almost daily blitz attacks by the Nazi Luftwaffe. The times where arduous enough for adults but for the children it was incomprehensible madness. The four children of the Pevensie family; Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell) find themselves running from the bombings towards a shelter. Their parents see that the city is no place for children and ship them off to the countryside under the care of Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent) and his very proper housekeeper Mrs. MacReady (Elizabeth Hawthorne). While staving off the endless hours of boredom the children play a game of hide and seek. The youngest, Lucy, finds a stately old wardrobe, opens the door and hides. Pushing past the coats she finds that she is no longer in the world of her birth but has been transported to a forest in the deep of winter. There she meets Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy), who much to Lucy’s surprise is a faun, half man and half goat. Tumnus explains that she is in the land of Narnia, a place where it is "always winter and never Christmas." After awhile he takes Lucy to a place where she is returned to her world.

While searching for Lucy as part of their game Edmund also discovers the wardrobe but his experience is vastly different. He meets up with the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) who extracts a promise from Edmund to bring his siblings back through the wardrobe to Narnia. As it turns out the Witch is trying to avoid the fulfillment of a prophecy that when four sons of Adam and daughters of Eve come to Narnia the true king, Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson), a majestic lion who would return and bring truth, light and warmth back to the land. When the four children return to Narnia they find that the humble home of Tumnus has been destroyed and that Lucy’s half animal friend has been taken into custody by the forces of the White Witch. Lost and confused the foursome is taken in from the cold by a talking Beaver (voiced by Ray Winstone) and his amiable wife (Dawn French). They tell the children about Aslan. All the children are amazed except for Edmund who harbors an unexplainable dread. Father Christmas arrives to provide gifts to the children. Peter receives a sword, Susan a bow, quiver of arrows and a horn, and to Lucy a healing potion and dagger. From there the children are swept into a classic conflict of good and evil, of trust and betrayal.

It is nearly impossible not to contrast Narnia with Middle Earth, after all both where written by Oxford Don, who just happened to be friends. The main difference lies in the intent of the respective works. While Tolkien’s novels where mostly pure entertainment Lewis was forwarding his on beliefs. He was a devote Christian and his faith he woven throughout the story. As almost everyone knows by know Aslan is a Christ figure. He sacrifices his life to pay the blood debt incurred by a betrayal at the hand of Edmund. The Witch is pure evil, a satanic force resolved to take all that is good from the world. This is good versus evil with a Christian slant. The film version of the Ring trilogy is targeted for an older audience than Narnia. This film has unmistakable Disney touches that make talking animals natural and acceptable.

Keeping with the younger intended audience the main cast are mostly children. Fortunately, the casting directors did their jobs well and came up with an excellent group of young actors. Georgie Henley is a delight as young Lucy. She comes across almost like a British version of Dakota Fanning, maturity and professionalism beyond her tender years. She is someone the girls in the audience can identify with and the parents will feel and overwhelming need to protect. Skandar Keynes has one of the more difficult roles as Edmund. He has to play between the natural innocence of a child with the betrayal so typical of adults. He plays Edmund as a boy growing to manhood in a world torn apart by war. When he enters Narnia he doesn’t see a fantasy world but more conflict and war. William Moseley is the perfect handsome male lead. The young girls will swoon and the boys will imagine themselves in his place. He portrays Peter as the eldest sibling who knows that it is up to him to save the day. Anna Popplewell is a talented as she is pretty. She gives a performance as Susan that invokes images of a Celtic warrior princess. Popplewell provides the necessary inner strength required to make her role believable. The performance by Tilda Swinton is deliciously wicked. She is the perfect storybook witch in all her evil glory.

This is the first film by director Andrew Adamson where he has to contend with live action, his previous films where the animated Shrek flicks. Before that he plied his craft as a special effects supervisor in such films as Toys and two or the 90’s Batman flicks. This early work shows with Narnia. Instead of the stark realism of that other epic set of films Narnia has an almost dreamlike feel to it. That is not to say that there isn’t a sense of grandeur to the film. It is set against a wonderfully detailed world that will amaze children everywhere. For the adults there is too much of a ‘seen that before’ nature. The battle scenes are riveting with the entire flourish we have come to expect. Adamson paces the film well although some of the needed exposition has the tendency to slow things down a lot. The computer graphics are seamlessly incorporated and the live action has the ability to connect with the audience.

Disney/Buena Vista has let out all the stops in bringing this film to DVD. Consistent with the modern trend there are three variations available, Pan & Scan, widescreen and the two disc collector’s edition. Considering the two disc version retails for about $7 more than the widescreen (I can’t recommend and P&S version) you might as well go for it. The video is presented in a stunning 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The color palette and contrast are near reference quality. The DTS six channel audio features one of the best and fullest sound fields I’ve heard in a while. The commentary track features not only the director but remarks by a group of children, a nice touch considering the target audience. There is a blooper reel that is amusing as well as some ‘Narnia fun facts’. The two disc set also has a lot of behind the scenes featurettes. There is one that shows the creation of the numerous creatures and a segment detailing the making of the melting river sequence. While more for the younger set this is a film the whole family can watch and enjoy together.

Posted 3/18/06