I suppose it was inevitable that award for &#147BIGGEST&#148 film of the year was always going to be a battle between three films, all of which are part of bigger sagas:

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - third in the series and sixth in order of being made. Potentially the series could reach nine episodes though only six have been made thus far, and apparently there are no plans to make the final three.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - fourth film in the series of seven. As of now six of the books have been published and the final volume will presumably be appearing sometime in the two or three years.

Disney&#146s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - first written of the seven Chronicles of Narnia books but second in the chronological order (some people still view it as the first in the series however), and of course the first Narnia film made in what will hopefully be a continuing saga by Disney if this film is anything to go by.

For me, the accolade of Biggest Film Release of the Year must go to this film. (To anyone who thought Batman Begins was the biggest film, I can understand your reasons, but I don&#146t think it was &#147Big&#148 on the scale of the three mentioned above.) The anticipation for both the Star wars and Harry Potter films was huge, but The Lion, The witch, and The Wardrobe was going to be something new. Okay the story wasn&#146t new, and it had been transferred onto the screen before (i.e. the BBC&#146s Animatronix version nearly two decades ago), but this was the first time that the special effects were available to do the story justice. The danger was of course that the special effects would be too heavily relied upon.

So what you&#146re wanting to know by now is, what was the film actually like?

If you&#146ve read the book or seen the series, you&#146ll already know the basic plot &#150 even if you haven&#146t, you&#146re unlikely to have gone through life completely unaware of the storyline. The four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) are evacuated to a home in the country and find themselves in an old mansion with a fastidious Housekeeper and a Professor who doesn&#146t like to be disturbed. (At least, that&#146s what the Housekeeper tells them!) During a game of hide and seek, the youngest child Lucy finds a wardrobe, which she goes inside&#133 and finds herself transported to another world. Eventually all four children end up in the other world, which is called Narnia, and find themselves embroiled in a battle between good (personified by the lion Aslan) and evil (embodied as the White Witch). Interestingly, the film begins, not with the normal scene of the children leaving the train or entering the mansion, but with a German bomber raid. This scene also shows Edmund&#146s rebellious side (he being the younger of the two boys).

The locations, set and costume designs, make-up, and accessories (weapons, gadgetry etc) were superb, as you would expect really since The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobehas much of the same production team as the Lord of the Rings films. Like that epic trilogy it is filmed in New Zealand, the scenery of which really lends itself to those rolling shots of mountains and sweeping panoramic shots that producers of epics are so enamoured of. The world of Narnia really has been lovingly created, the people and creatures that inhabit it wonderfully realised, and the things those people and creatures used intricately crafted. The CGI is generally very good, though there are a couple of short scenes that really &#147look&#148 CGI.

Aslan himself is very impressive &#150 his movement is realistic and truly conveys the powers and majesty of the animal and the characters, his voice is given the appropriate wisdom, solemnity, and majesty by Liam Neeson, and the roar (the weakest aspect of the old BBC version as you could hardly hear it!!) is awesome.

The acting was good throughout and sometimes top notch. All four main parts (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were played by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley respectively), while Tilda Swinton as the White Witch was perfectly adequate though not outstanding. James McAvoy as the Faun Mr Tumnus was excellent and unsurprisingly the incomparable Jim Broadbent was wonderful even though he had only a few short scenes as the Professor in whose house the children now lived.

The plot keeps pretty well to the original, with only a few changes here and there that won&#146t be a problem to anyone but the purist (who is never going to be happy with any version so we can safely ignore them). There didn't seem to be any plot holes that weren't in the book, either. The action scenes are well done, though some of the action may be a little intense for very young ones so a little caution is needed by parents (a good excuse to watch it yourself before you take the kids! :-D). There is plenty of humour, particularly by the Beaver (voiced by Winston Davies &#150 making that Beaver a Cockney sounds insane but it was inspired), which helps keep things enjoyable while the action slows down a bit. Dawn French and Rupert Everett also lend their voices as Mrs Beaver and a Gryphon. The music is superb throughout, and really gives the film atmosphere in all the right places.

Overall, this version of the C S Lewis classic (which I have to admit is my second least-favourite of the whole series!) is wonderful entertainment &#150 not without its faults, but very enjoyable for the whole family. I&#146ve been waiting for this one all year and am glad to say that I&#146m not disappointed &#150 I don&#146t think you will be either.

Other Information

Rating: PG for battle sequences and frightening moments.
Runtime: 140 min


Related Links


The Fellowship of the Rings
The Two Towers
The Return of the King


James McAvoy was Paul Bettany&#146s brother in Wimbledon

Jim Broadbent was also Bridget Jones&#146s Diary, Around the World in 80 Days in and a voice actor in ROBOTS

Ray Winstone was in Cold Mountain

See also my Top Ten Children's Movies

The final link must of course be: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - the book!

Thanks for reading,



CaptainD


_-*********-_

See Also

Top Ten Films of 2005

-_*********_-

Recommended: Yes