We’ve been working really hard on a Narnia Fan Review module for the website, and we’d like to point you to it. But first, here’s a review sent in by a fan that saw the movie on Saturday morning. If you have seen the film, we’ve got the most in-depth review process on the web, created for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by theOneRing.net, and given permission to use here at NarniaFans.com.
Here’s the review, “A Morning Spent in Narnia” by Jason Batt.
Late Thursday night a friend called me up and asked, “Do you like Narnia?” After screaming yes, I asked why? The response would make this incredible, “Someone gave me some tickets to an advance screening of Narnia for this Saturday. I thought you’d like them.” After picking up the phone, I thanked him repeatedly. This morning I left my house early with my four-year old son in tow and raced to the theater (I wanted to be the first in line). Embarrasingly, for over an hour, we were the only ones in line.
What follows are my first reactions. I’ve just left the theater, walked into my house, and directly to my computer. Let me be honest up front: I love the Chronicles of Narnia. I have read them since a young boy. They brought me into a world of fantasy and I’ve setup camp here. I’ve gone through many different sets of the books over the years due to them falling apart because I read them over and over. I’ve also lost many because of my annoying need to bring others into this world and loaning them out (and never getting them returned). I worked for years as a high school English teacher and poured over these books. I’ve studied and dissected them.
I’ll also admit that I’ve been quite hesitant about this movie. So many attempts to nail this story in a visual format have failed (the annoying PBS cartoon and that equally horrid BBC edition), that I just couldn’t live with another pitiful hack attempt at these wonderful stories. The only dramatization that I felt was worthwhile was a radio drama that Zondervan Publishing released on CD about five years ago. I’ve also been dreading the over-commercialization of this movie. My fears seemed to be coming true when I picked up a pudding cup out of my fridge to read on the label, “OPEN TO DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF NARNIA.” Chocolate and Aslan are not synonymous.
I’ve also been fearful that so many people would simply watch these movies and never move to the book. The books are pure magic in my opinion. C.S. Lewis chose the fairy-tale genre and executed his approach perfectly. My discovery of Aslan and the land of Narnia are strong experiences. I dreaded hearing people talk of Aslan and having only known him through a movie that would miserably fail to communicate the sense of wonder so inherent in the books.
My fears were simply unwarranted. My first reaction was WOW! This movie, coming in just short of two and a half hours, was mesmerizing. That’s not to say it was flawless, because it wasn’t. There are still some points of frustration for me (albeit, these could simply be where the movie doesn’t match the image I constructed in my mind). In this write-up, I’ll avoid spoilers until the end.
Another quick point at the top: this movie isn’t Lord of the Rings and it isn’t Harry Potter. I applaud the director for not trying to be, either. I just have to believe it would’ve been a failure if this movie tried to reflect these other two great sagas. Instead, it found its own sense of wonder and executes it perfectly. It stands as a great addition to this genre (more accurately, it helped spawn this genre, but I digress) without feeling it had to mimic either one. Don’t walk in expecting Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. It just isn’t either one. It is deserving of praise for its own accomplishments.
The standout performance of this movie was clearly Tilda Swinton as Jadis, the White Witch. The person who cast her deserves a raise. She carried the acting in this movie, which apart from her, dragged noticeably. Tilda is spell-binding. I found myself naturally wanting to hate her and yet oddly drawn to her. She channels that sense of attractive evil that Mel Gibson’s the Passion attempted to do with the androgynous Lucifer. When Swinton is on-screen, the movie resonates deeply with the audience. She is horrifyingly cruel in one beat and in the next, convincingly alluring and seemingly kind.
Her performance shines even more in contrast with the four children. It’s frustrating to watch other child actors (Dakota Fanning, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, to name a few) hit their notes perfectly and then walk into a movie like this, which is so dependent on the children, and find that everything about the children is slightly off-key. Georgie Henley, who plays the youngest Lucy, comes the closest to that perfect acting pitch, which is critical as so much of the discovery of Narnia, the land beyond the Wardrobe, rests on her. She has many scenes that rely on her performance solely, and often she does a remarkable job. Other times, she falls flat. When called upon to be innocent and curious, a natural little girl, she’s incredible, however, she simply can’t accurately reproduce extreme emotions. The few moments where Lucy needs to be sad become awkward on screen. She just can’t hit it right.
Edmund, played by Skandar Keynes, is just odd. At times, he’s convincing. The next moment, the exact opposite. The attempt of the director at the beginning was to create in the audience a sense of frustration at Edmund’s behavior and pity at the same time. It just never connects. You see where Adamson is going, but just can’t follow him there. Edmund is far less than frustrating, an emotion which requires the audience to invest themselves in the character, and much more annoying. A critical point in the movie requires the audience to be in dread of Edmund losing his life. I simply found myself not caring whether he lived or died. He was a pest, and an annoying one at that.
The others, Peter, played by William Moseley, and Susan, played by Anna Popplewell, are just unmemorable. They serve as simply agents through whom the director moved his plot. Peter, even when fulfilling his destiny, never seems to have it in him to deserve it. Susan is underwhelming. I just couldn’t figure out how Adamson wanted us to take her. There are moments where I get the sense he’s trying to foreshadow plot elements that should happen in a future movie, but I can’t figure why he felt he needed to.
Actually, apart from Swinton, the best acting in this movie, comes from Aslan, the CG lion himself, voice by Liam Neeson. If Aslan didn’t connect, then the movie would fall flat. They executed him perfectly (pun intended). Aslan and Jadis are polar extremes and literally move the movie by themselves. There are times when the CG becomes obvious, but Aslan is so moving in his character that it just becomes easy to forgive.
Speaking of the CG, this movie’s effects are well-done, but just not perfect. Like most movies today, there are just those few obvious scenes that scream for a few more days of work. The creatures were well-done. Two of the later scenes find a huge collection of monsters and creatures plucked from fairytales from the last thousand years: banshees, harpees, a phoenix, gryphons, gargoyles, demons, orcs, goblins, centaurs, minotaurs, cyclops, fawns, the list literally seems endless. Just when you think they’ve trotted out all the wonderful creatures they could think of, a few more arrive. As far as creativity of creature development, the anticipation that the Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies create finds its fulfillment here. Absolutely flawless. There is one scene (the Stone Table) that brought back that same sense of awe that I had when watching the first Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope.
The handiwork of Weta’s craftsmen is obvious. Weta’s team is clearly the masters in this field. The intricacies of the armor, swords, furniture, and more are beautiful. They pulled me into this movie and convinced me that this was truly Narnia.
The cinematography is excellent. The first walk into to Narnia was gorgeous, convincing, and splendid. Looking down upon Mr. Tumnus and Lucy walk across the snow and under the umbrella was haunting. Glancing at the lamppost through the snow-covered trees was spot-on as I’d imagined it. There are a few brief moments, however, where the limitations of a soundstage become obvious. At these times, the scenery feels bunched together, the lighting seems too manufactured, and the actors pull into themselves. Luckily, these moments are rare.
The action of the movie is schizophrenic. There are moments, the large battle scenes, where it seems as if the movie is wanting to be held up to Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, and others with impressive hand-to-hand warfare. Other moments blazingly reveal the wilting touch of Disney censors. Violence which is unneeded to move the story ahead gets displayed on stage. Characters are stabbed. Swords are plunged into people. Nothing is spared. Yet, two points when the violence is integral to the story shy away from giving the audience the full effect. I just couldn’t figure why some violence was chosen and other violence, so much more needful, become a mere suggestion on screen.
I’ve said all I can say without spoiling it. If you don’t want to be ruined, read no further.
The most frustrating scene, for me, is one not lifted from the book. For some reason, the director felt the action wasn’t turned as high as it needed to be and inserted some comical escape from the falling ice and survive the rushing river scene. It wasn’t Lewis (yes, I know I’ll hear about that line) and was obviously unneeded in the overall scope of the plot.
Back to Swinton. I just can’t adequately explain how incredible she was. Her surprise as hearing Aslan’s name mentioned by Edmund is felt perfectly. I couldn’t imagine this moving being a success without her. At the Stone Table, where Aslan is killed, Swinton arrives at the peak of her performance. This scene is moving. The host of the White Witch is crawling over each other to torture the Lion and she is literally basking in their lust. After plunging her knife into his heart, which become a suggestion off-screen (WHY?), her face conveys the complete sense of relief her character has. She takes you in at this moment and convinces you of the eternal struggle these two characters have had. In a brief look, I knew the weight of fear and dread that the Witch had carried for so many years, and even though I knew how the book turned out, I was convinced at that moment that she would win. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! If you need one reason to see this movie, it is Tilda Swinton.
I loved the fact that the talking animals become simply believable. It isn’t a huge effort to suspend my disbelief. The beavers are well-performed and I found myself loving them. The animals are honestly more convincingly than any of the real actors, excluding Swinton.
Except for the stupid waterfall scene, this book absolutely captured the magic, flow, and detail of the book. I loved watching this with my son, hoping that his first encounter with Narnia would be memorable. I was working on reading him the book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” so that we would finish it by Friday, December 9th when the movie premieres. However, this opportunity came up and my plans were sidetracked. My son is even more eager to finish the book now. That fact alone tells me this movie was a success.