Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
The Chronicles Of Narnia movies was the type of project that most likely was inspired by the success of The Lord Of The Rings franchise and with good reason: Original authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were known to have been good friends when they were alive, and while Tolkienâs grand tales involved an entire fictional world (complete with its own social orders) fighting for their very survival from an inpending Apocalypse (albeit with very little that resembled or paralleled our own reality), Lewisâ Narnia stories were fantasies that were also about an alternate world but yet were heavily saturated with Christian allegory and theology right down to one major character openly and directly admitting that he is actually Jesus Christ in an alternate form. However, with the stunning level of success for the Rings films along with the spiritually and thematically empty Harry Potter epics, it seemed only a matter of time before Narnia would get the big budget, CGI loaded extravaganza treatment. And in 2005 it did, scoring big points at the box office but as of to date only mustering out an additional two sequels (with the original series of books extending to seven total). Perhaps it was the overly Christian leanings that caused Hollywood to underpromote and ultimately show little faith in keeping it going (as opposed to Potter which greatly helped to promote both occult and paganistic beliefs to children) or just maybe the momentum of the stories completely ran out of gas after the first couple. Lewis himself was famous for being someone who had disavowed Christianity at a young age before personally studying almost every world religion there was, breaking them all down by their known tendencies before finally declaring that Christianity was indeed the dominant world religion and settling down at times into the role of being a rather eloquent moral crusader. Some have stated that Narnia is supposed to be a reimagined version of Heaven, albeit one that is not yet open for business to humans before the four main siblings first arrived there. Or maybe it is actually intended to be a more âpure and innocentâ world where fairy tale happenings are common but Godâs Law is still all important. Nonetheless, the main risk of the film is in going forward with four complete unknowns to play The Penvensie Siblings (two brothers and two sisters), all of whom essentially are expected to gel together and collectively carry the whole movie amongst an array of talking CGI animals. And gel they do, surprisingly, with well written development and a likable, believable rapport that belies their lack of on camera experience. The film begins during WWII and the bombing of London as the family (including their mother) takes cover within a shelter as their home is destroyed. As it was considered the âpatriotic dutyâ in England at the time to take in refugee children (and with their father off fighting as well), The Penvensies are sent to live at the home of a Professor (Jim Broadbent) whose actual areas of study are never really specified. But since they are now living in the countryside as opposed to dreary old London, the kids see this as an opportunity to play and have fun as we meet each of them, Peter (William Moseley), the oldest who has taken on the role of father figure to his siblings, Edmund (Skandar Keynes), the rebellious brother who is always clashing with his older brother over his presumed position of authority, Lucy (Georgie Henley), the youngest of the group who is also the main catalyst for many of the storyâs events, and Susan (Anna Popplewell), the beautiful blue eyed sister who fills the role of always being the skeptic. It is during an innocent game of hide and seek that Lucy discovers and hides within an old wardrobe (closet) that actually serves as the gateway to the mystical land of Narnia (where the timeline on Earth doesnât change for a second even if youâre away for years) and meets a creature called a âfaunâ which is really just a goatboy looking thing and is played by James McAvoy. Turns out that this discovery of an actual human being walking around Narnia is really a very big deal, as it is prophesized that the place (under siege from a never ending winter) will finally escape its cursed existence upon the arrival of four humans who will bring warm weather and quality leadership to all the land. Once the other three siblings are brought through the portal, we start to learn more about this curse, namely in the form of The White Witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton, pretty much the perfect casting choice here) who has taken control of Narnia and is well aware of the implications of these new arrivals now showing up as she realizes that she will have to kill them in order to maintain her power. But she also sees nothing wrong with a little temptation so that she may divide and conquer as she isolates the rebellious brother, Edmund, and presents herself to him as being both a maternal figure and as a potential girlfriend / lover, telling Edmund that he is the most special out of all his siblings (which he loves hearing) and thus making him susceptible to snitching out certain important pieces of information to her. This is by far the most fascinating dynamic of the film as it actually introduces some semi erotic undertones (the exotic older woman seducing the vulnerable teenage boy for evil purposes) and also makes it clear that Edmund is drawn to her by a certain attraction that he himself doesnât really understand (but she does). However, once The Witch gets her information, she wastes little time reverting back to her mean, evil self, setting the stage for the impending war against the forces of good as led by The Lion, Aslan (Liam Neeson, bringing so much majesty to what is just a voiceover role). It all leads up to a major act of sacrifice (thus the Christian allegory) and then a huge battle scene featuring satyrs, unicorns, and even a fiery phoenix dropping bombs on the enemy. While the film doesnât necessarily wear out its welcome, there are some points in the late going when one or more of the leads certainly do, stretching our nerves thin when the script calls for them to become highly emotional (even as itâs obvious that they were all very well coached on set considering their overall lack of experience). We do get a lot of CGI critters in supporting roles, including a Mr. and Mrs. Beaver (voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French), Rupert Everett as a friendly Fox and a sinister wolf henchman voiced very well by Michael Madsen. The film is actually better paced than you would believe given its two and a half hour running time although when the story goes so far as to even include a cameo by none other than Santa Claus himself (due to the implication that Christmas hasnât been held in Narnia during the hundred years of The Witchâs rule and thus he too will now be coming back), one might be tempted to roll their eyes a bit even as Santa reaches into his toy bag and supplies the siblings with weapons rather than toys. At the end of the day, the film (and its sequels) are to be commended for including tenets of The Bible to incorporate into the framework of a classic fantasy story for kids unlike The Rings Franchise where we basically grind it out through long, drawn out scenarios where usually the âGodâ characters are the wizards who interact amongst all of the other players but other than that thereâs never really very much there to relate to in terms of faith and spirituality other than what is made up on the spot for the story itself (same with The Potter Films). THIS fantasy story though, directly acknowledges the real life Christian faith (the brothers are often referred to as the âsons of Adamâ while the sisters are called the âdaughters of Eveâ) and in many ways is all the better for it, an obviously lavish production whose only main hit or miss risk is the use of four main actors who were chosen after an expansive casting call and talent search, but otherwise it does a fine job of retaining Lewisâ spirit and intentions (no surprise since his heirs served as producers on the project) while throwing into the cinematic realm yet another fantasy epic this time for more discerning tastes that succeeds both in that regard and also as being a kidâs film that can be enjoyed and understood at that level as wellâŚ
8/10