Tagline
Evil Has Reigned For 100 Years...
Plot
Children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are sent to a relative in the country when WWII hits London. During a game of hide and seek Lucy accidentally discovers a snowy world when she climbs into a wardrobe. She meets a faun, mr. Tumnus and stays with him for hours, but when she returns to the house the game is still in progress. Being the youngest, she has a hard time convincing her siblings that this isn't another fantasy. Edmund follows her when she goes a second time. Unfortunately he bumps in to Jadis, the White Witch who has crowned herself Queen of Narnia and keeps the land under a nasty spell leading to over a hundred years of winter. She immediately recognises him as one of the four humans who will bring her down according to an ancient Narnian prophecy. She drugs him, making him promise to take the others to her castle so she can turn them to stone, like she does with anyone who disobeys her.
When all four of them make their way through the furry coats they discover Tumnus' house has been trashed and the faun is nowhere to be found. They are spotted by a Beaver, who takes them to his house and fills them in (yes, it's a talking beaver. What do you mean 'animals don't talk'?) on the basics of Narnia and the prophecy. How exactly they are supposed to dethrone Jadis no-one knows though. When Edmund suddenly disappears the Beavers smell trouble and lead them further into Narnia. That's when the story really starts. Unfortunately by this time you're an hour into the film. Then there is Aslan, the mighty Lion and of course the real King of Narnia. He provides the Pevensies with special items needed for their battle with Jadis. Why this oh so powerful beast can't deal with the White Witch isn't clarified.
Acting
By far the best actor is the young Georgy Henley (1995) who plays Lucy. Especially the scenes with James McAvoy, mr. Tumnus were very good. I liked it that Tilda Swinton was cast to play Jadis, but was a little disappointed with how the Witch was portrayed. She was cold, but not mesmerising enough. And what was with the blonde dreads? Liam Neeson gave Aslan a fitting voice, deep and majestic.
Set
I was very curious to see how the animals would be done in this film. Knowing that the same company that did Lord Of The Rings would be involved made me a bit apprehensive, and unfortunately the Witch's army resembled the creatures from LOTR quite a lot. Aslan was beautiful, detailed to the last hair. The talking animals were just like I imagined they would be, so were the poor suckers that had been turned to stone by Jadis. What disappointed me was the lack of magic in Narnia. The snow looked like ordinary snow, and also the waterfall didn't glisten as much as is described in the books.
The comments that this film has too many biblical references in it didn't bother me at all. I wasn't brought up religious and although I did of course recognise some of them, I didn't feel this film was overly religious.
Verdict: Two years ago the vast majority of my friends had never heard of Narnia, the books by C.S. Lewis I read over and over again as a child. Now everyone knows this magical country, Aslan and everything else in it. Not just the books, but also posters, games, you name it, are sold out in no time. A new hype is born... The film was alright, but lacked the magic of the books and there are too many similarities in set and figures to LOTR.
Imre
