The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Download, Review)

Hollywood really seems to be big on going after all fantasy novels that are out there and turning them into movies. I do find it fun to see some great books turned into film, but it does seem to be a little over done. It should be interesting to see if they will be able to keep the interest in this franchise going long enough to get all seven of the movies made. The last attempt at the series ended with book four. Possibly with the new technology that is out there they might be able to get the whole series done and keep it interesting. Of course the first story is a complete story in itself and does not actually need a sequel.

The movie is based around four children who were sent away from London during World War 2 so that they would be safe from the bombings. They get bored in this new giant house where the rules are strict and there is little for kids to do.

During a game of hide and seek the youngest of the children, Lucy, finds her way in to the magical land of Narnia through a wardrobe. After having tea and almost getting kidnapped, she returns home to tell her siblings. They do not believe her and are unable to use the wardrobe. When she returns tot eh wardrobe on her own, she finds the portal to Narnia once more and is followed by her brother, Edmond. Edmond is found by the White Witch, who seems to him to be a very mice lady. She asks that he come back with all of his siblings.

Lucy and Edmond return together, but Edmund refuses to admit to their older brother and sister that he was in Narnia, making it seem as though Lucy just had an over active imagination.

Finally by accident all four of them do end up in Narnia and are off on a grand adventure with the fate of a world in their hands. Edmond goes off to the White Witch and is captured, while the other three are taken on a quest to find the lion Aslan.

The big plot point happens when it is learn that because Edmond had betrayed his siblings, his life now belongs to the White Witch. Aslan agrees to sacrifice his life in place of Edmond’s.

Everything builds up to a big battle that will decide the fate of Narnia for all time, with the eldest brother Peter being forced to lead the good guys.

The story stayed true to the book, maybe too much so. Yet it cut off at the end without giving some of the closure the book had. I really did not feel it would have been a bad thing for an extra five minutes to have been added just to wrap things up. The movie moves fast enough through the story that it could have been done without hurting the pace.

Over all the movie was enjoyable, but I kept feeling it could have been better. My main problem was that the four main characters really did not feel like strong characters at all. There was something lacking for each of them. In fact the older sister Susan really felt like a complete waste of a character, having done nothing of real value at all in the movie. She was for the most part just background. The other three were very two dimensional, with no real depth to them. I think it would have been a much better movie if there had been more focus on making sure we care about our main characters, which I just really could not outside of them being children. It having been some years since I read the books, I do not remember if they are presented so originally. Even if the books did not present them well, the movie still could have improved on them and made us care about what happens to them and this world of Narnia. Because I also did not really care who won the battle. We do not get to know enough about the world and the people in it to be able to fully feel as though we were on the right side.

The costumes and special effects were well done, which was not surprising. What this movie will most likely get compared to and weighed against the most is going to be the Lord of the Rings movies. In some ways this was a more family oriented version of that story. Where the Lord of the Rings movies made you feel for the characters and really brought you into the adventure, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe falls short. The special effects feel the same and the imagination is there, but there needs to be something more. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe might actually have gained from coming out before The Lord of the Rings, so that it did not have such a high standard to live up to. It really fell far from having the epic feel as any one of the Lord of the Rings movies had.

It was an enjoyable film if one is looking for a fun film. It just could have been better. We can only hope that if they do go forwards and get the sequel done, that they see the flaws they made and work harder at making the characters more interesting and into people we really do end up caring about. This film is definitely going to go over better with the younger audience members who are looking for the fighting and the special effects.

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