The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Plot Outline
During the German air raids of WWII, the four Pevensie children -- Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy -- are sent out of London to take shelter at the country home of eccentric Prof. Digory Kirke, who happens to be the owner of a curious wardrobe. Peering into this wardrobe one day, Lucy finds herself in the snowy land of Narnia, which is mired in never-ending winter thanks to the magic of the evil White Witch, who has proclaimed that it will be always winter but never Christmas in the mystical land. Eventually the other Pevensies find themselves in Narnia, and the four children learn that they alone are the key to breaking the Witch's eternal winter. But while three of them trudge through the snow with some helpful Beavers to join forces with Aslan, the mighty Lion, the fourth takes a more treacherous path and falls in league with the Witch...
(From IMDB)
Cast:
Tilda Swinton
Liam Neeson
Brian Cox
Georgie Henley
William Moseley
Skandar Keynes
Anna Popplewell
Rupert Everett
Dawn French
James McAvoy
Patrick Kake
Elizabeth Hawthorne
Jim Broadbent
Ray Winstone
James Cosmo
Michael Madsen
Director:
Andrew Adamson
DVD Features:
Disk 1:
- Audio commentary from the filmmakers
- Audio commentary from the director and the kids!
- 'Discover Narnia' fun facts
- Bloopers
Disk 2:
- 'Creating Narnia': behind the scenes footage
- 'Chronicles Of A Director' featurette
- 'Anatomy Of A Scene - The Melting River' featurette
- 'Creating Creature' featurette
- 'Cinematic Storytelling' featurette
- Creatures' Lands And Legends, hosted by Mr Tumnus
- 'Creatures Of The World' featurette
- 'Explore Narnia' featurette
- 'Legend In Time' featurette
Not a Bad selection of special features, I watched most, but really wanted to get onto the movie, and get to bed so I skipped some, but the ones I watched were good for those who actually knew to works of C.S. Lewis, but for those who dont, the na documentary about him and his books would have been nice, the features on the disk focus only on the film.
Movie:
Seeing this film was a mixed thing, I was going into this movie with a feeling of dread, not just from what I have read about the actual movie, but also from the aspect of how anyone could make the book into a film, I recently read the book, and wasnt impressed by it one bit, the lack of detail and washed out characters made it a dull read, and not very inspireing, but Im not a totale loss when it comes to not liking anything, as I dont bare grudges that long.
From the trailer I watched, and also the little tit bits that the film makers put up on the net as a diary made this film look as tho it was just going to be looks over substance, and quite a weak film. I was quite pleased to find that in reality its wasnt as bad as I had in my head, it moved allong at a decent pace as not to be too dull, but left enought time to tell the story to its full, some scenes could have been longer, like the fight scenes, and soem could have been kept shorter, like the stone tabel/Aslans death scene.
I really liked the beavers, but I wasnt impressed by Aslan, he should have been bigger, and Liam Neeson's voice was lost in the role, the rest of the creatures were good, but I didnt like the wolves, and they looked a little naff when they were speaking. Overall the creatuer stuff were good, and WETA did a good job with the armor and other stuff, but what really looked rubbish, and spoilt the film for me was the Green screen stuff, the children stood out against the backgrounds too much, and really looked out of place, it remindered me of old films back in the day when Blue/Green screen work was still been developed.
I like the kids they got to play the Pevensies were top notch, and the acting was quite good, but the stand out performance for me was Tilda Swinton as the Queen, she has an odd look which lends her to play roles that make use of strange, but not ugly people, some dont like her, but for me she was the correct choice.
The music in this film was ok, but it needed to be more a part of the film rarther than supporting the film, as allot of the sets looked basic and the music was more needed to give the film atmosphere and a feeling all of its own, but unfortunatly it didnt and the film felt like any other run of the mill fantasy movie.
Its unfortunate for this film, that "The Lord Of The Rings" movies were so good, and that they came first, as its hard not to compare all other fantasy movies with them, just like Sifi films have to stand up against "Bladerunner".
To sum this film up, I would have to say that its worth watching, and if you like it allot, then buy it, but other wise its a rent job, I dont know how much milage I can get from this film, as the "Harry Potter" films I can watch then over and over again, as the fill the correct boxes, they are easy to watch and do a good job of entertaining, even though they arnt the best films in the world. This movie has it moments of greatness, but they are only fleeting glances of what could be great scenes, but the Director takes the film away from this, and spoils it with poor script, and lackluster editing, the music in parts really lifts the film, but as soon as its get there it lets the film fall back onto its ass. Entertaining but not stunning, its was a missed opertunity to make a great film.
DVD Extras: 👍👍👍/👍👍👍👍👍
Movie: 👍👍👍/👍👍👍👍👍