On December 9th, Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media released the now #1 Movie of the holidays; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Exceeding expectations almost everywhere, the movie directed by Andrew Adamson, is based on the book by C.S.Lewis that carries the same name. To many, the best book of the 7 Chronicles of Narnia.

Finally, I got the chance to watch the movie myself, and finally see if all the reviews I've read before were true. Some said bad things, others said good things...but none described my exact feelings and thoughts when watching the movie.

From the moment it begins, you sense that this film will be a high-on-digital-effects one. The first scene, the airplane attack; is pretty and very well done, even though it's easy to realize it was digitally done. The first half hour, when the kids don't enter Narnia definetly, the movie has a fun and mysterious feeling, mainly because they picture the Wardrobe as something full of mystery. The expressions shown by the kids when first seeing Narnia, or for example the first time Lucy sees Mr. Tumnus; are great, and they take you directly into Narnia, as if all happened behind a real wardrobe. Same with the acting of the four children all the way through. You believe it happened.

Now, the one that does her role perfectly is Tilda Swinton as Jadis, the White Witch. She is pure evil, yet she manages to give a feeling of: "Could she really be THAT bad?". She is evil though, and you certainly realize that at the end. The way she portrays the character is awesome; she manages to be evil, severe, rude, elegant and beautiful at the same time. Just like the book describes her. Tilda sure did an awesome job.

The book adaption is awesome, and the Director managed to add plenty of stuff(and modify other things) and all, in my point of view; for the better. Even though there are some parts of the book not mentioned; or some notable changes to the story, none of them are bad and they all fit perfectly. Now you have an action-packed yet fun and deep-enough fantasy film; something not seen in a long time.

Now, the only category where I don't give the movie a "5" is Digital Effects, and it's not because they're bad, but because they're really good, yet could've been better. The wolves where completely realistic, Aslan was perfect, the beavers where outstanding, the gryphon was incredible, the phoenix was just breathtaking, and the battle at the end of the movie was simply spectacular, and Tilda Swinton manages to get better and better on the role of Jadis, as she fights and kills creature after creature in a fearless way. Yet there are some special effects, like some backgrouds made with the green screen technique, or the kids riding on Aslan's back that take you out of the magic momentarily, but then some so good that manage to take you back in an instant. It happens a few times, and that's why it doesn't deserve a perfect score in this category.

The Score is spectacular, the music just takes you to Narnia and manages to keep you there the whole time. It's an awesome work, and it gives a lot of life to the movie. Also, if you hear the score out of the movie; you can even feel it's magic. In short, the score is a magical work that just takes you to Narnia all by itself. Costumes and Make-up are really awesome, better seen when Jadis's forces start to appear, Weta did an awesome job. Mixing digital work with make-up works perfectly; and gives the movie an awesome "real" feeling.

That concludes my short opinion about Narnia. The film is an action-packed yet fun and deep Fantasy/Adventure film, do not be mistaken though, it is not Lord of the Rings, but it was never meant to be. It's another story, another world and most importantly, a completely different film. It's simply an awesome adventure into the magical world of Narnia.