The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

When I was younger, I would go and spend time at my grandparents house and the thing I loved to do was watch their collection of movies. Now for some reason, my grandparents never had the classic Disney films and if they did, I didn't watch them because those were films I could watch at home. There was one movie that I always used to watch that I could never watch at home and that was the animated version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I would actually love to go out and find this movie on DVD because I have such fond memories of watching this movie over and over and over again. Looking at some of the Google images, I've realized that the animation probably wasn't that great, but it was the first introduction I had to the world of C.S. Lewis before I was able to actually read.

Fast forward to 2005, I was a little bit older and Lord of the Rings had recently finished it's trilogy. I talked about this in my review of King Arthur, but around this time, every movie was trying to recreate the lightning in a bottle that was the Lord of the Rings trilogy and unfortunately, that was a little bit of the case with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. However, in 2005 I was over the top excited for this movie.

The Chronicles of Narnia (I'm not going to type out The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe because it is a long title) follows the story of four young children in the midst of World War 2. They are sent to the country like many British children were to get them away from the bombing raids and these kids find themselves in the custody of an aloof professor (played by Jim Broadbent).

These children are Peter the oldest (played by William Moseley) Susan (played by Anna Popplewell), Edmund (played by Skander Keynes) and Lucy, the youngest (played by Georgie Henley).

The children are trying to get along while being away from home and they eventually find an enchanted wardrobe that leads them into a totally new world called Narnia. Lucy is the first one to find it and of course initially they don't believe her.

Eventually though, they all find their way into this magical world and they discover that it is being ruled by an evil sorceress called The White Witch (played by Tilda Swinton).

At first they stay in the world out of necessity and the need to make sure that everyone gets home safely, but eventually they figure out they are fulfilling a prophecy to end the reign of the White Witch and bring forth the coming of Jesus... I mean Aslan the Lion (voiced by Liam Neeson).

So the first thing to point out in this film is that C.S. Lewis was a very strong Christian and a lot of the Narnia series pulls a lot of inspiration from the Bible. That's not to say that this movie is preachy or even a religious film, but there are a lot of Biblical analogies and they're really hard to miss.

The other thing to point out is that while Disney I think was trying to create their own Lord of the Rings franchise, this is not any kind of substitute for Lord of the Rings. Narnia and Lord of the Rings were such different stories told by two very talented and very different authors. At the end of this film there is a giant battle that is very Lord of The Rings based, but the story of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was never meant to be a fantasy epic, it was more of a small children's story. The better comparison would be to compare this to The Hobbit (not the movies) because that was more the Tolkien story that was just a child's story, and not a huge fantasy story. I think when I watched this movie back in 2005, I, like a lot of people, was hoping for a fantasy epic and that's why I think the movie didn't do as well. It spawned a sequel but it was never something Disney was fully invested in I think, especially when the sequel didn't do as well.

But it is more of a kid friendly adventure and you get a lot of creative ideas. People think Tolkien was the king of fantasy novels back in the day (and don't get me wrong he is) but I think people sometimes forget how much of a creative genius C.S. Lewis was.

Two of the creatures they run across are talking Beavers. Yeah, a lot of the creatures they run across are your typical fantasy creatures like Centaurs and minotaurs but they're all together and I have to give the movie credit, there are a lot of cool creature creations and CGI done in this film. Watching it 11 years later in 2016 might make the CGI look a little bit dated at times, but re-watching this film made me realize that a lot of time and effort was put into this film and it wasn't just a Lord of the Rings rip off.

This is definitely a difficult story to adapt because it is such an out there concept and not a lot of it makes sense.

For example, Lucy goes into the wardrobe and the first thing she sees is a gas lamppost and a faun (played by James McEvoy before he was really popular). There's not really rhyme or reason to the things that exist in Narnia but because it's more of a children's story, you're not really supposed to question it. Recently, we've gotten so entrenched in the politics of fantasy worlds like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings that it's nice to go a little bit more into the traditional story telling where not everything needs to have a backstory or a whole culture and language behind it.

Now I'm sure that there is those elements in the Narnia series, but the story of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is more of a fairy tale than a fantasy epic and if you go into it with that mindset, it's a lot more fun.

I go back and forth with the performances of the kids in this film. Because on one hand they are kids

and they are going through this adventure that like I just said, isn't supposed to be taken so seriously that you're asking questions like why is Peter put in charge of an Army when there's a centaur right there who probably has more military experience than this young boy.

But at the same time, if you're watching this as an adult, you kind of are asking those questions. And while Disney does a pretty good job at containing this to a fairy tale, I have to go back to the time this movie came out and that they wanted to have that Lord of the Rings appeal.

If I am bringing up Lord of the Rings too much, it's because that was probably the biggest elephant in the room when this movie was being made and that's the one downside of this film. I had forgotten that Disney made this film and in retrospect, I do see the time and care that was put into this film, but I also know the context of when this movie was released and what they were trying to do simutaneously.

But the kids!

They give good performances overall. Again, they're put in an awkward scenario but they do a good job. I think the issues I have with them are more how they are written and the personal development they go through.

For example, you've got the character of Peter.

When I was a kid, I of course wanted to be Peter because he was the leader and the one with the cool sword. And I even noticed in the viewing I had that there was a story kind of in the background that Peter had, especially in the beginning when he sees a Soldier going off to war about his age and he's going off to be safe in the country.

Unfortunately, that's never really addressed in the movie because it was never really addressed in the book. It's a good thing to think about but they never really address it and make Peter an interesting character. Now again, this is a fairy tale so Peter ending up as King of Narnia is more something you'd have to suspend disbelief for. And going back to the cartoon that I watched as a kid, I never questioned that. But the difficulty of a live action remake of this is that you see the emotion and naiveness of these characters and your suspension of disbelief comes into question, especially if you're my age.

But I do have to pull back and remember that this is a kids movie. A kids movie that is a fairy tale. And when you accept that in this film, it actually works really well. Just don't think about it too hard like I probably did.

So overall, I thought the kids gave good performances and they make for good heroes in a children's film. I don't think it's the best performance given by children in a film like this, but it's serviceable enough to have a good time and watch them go on this adventure.

Can we all just recognize the brilliance of Liam Neeson as Aslan?

Of all the iconic characters that Liam Neeson has played, I think Aslan kind of gets put on the back burner but it's a great role for Neeson and it makes so much sense!

I never really realized until this viewing that Aslan doesn't actually do a lot in this story. But the part I love is how much suspense is built up to meeting Aslan. That was always something really great about reading the book and watching the animated cartoon was the hype built up for Aslan. And fortunately, this movie gives the same suspense and gravitas to a character and having Neeson do the voice is a great bonus.

Now when the movie came out I didn't know who Tilda Swinton was. It's funny because since this movie came out, this is the first Tilda Swinton role I always think of. Maybe it's because this was the first role I ever saw her in, but it could also be from her performance.

Tilda Swinton is pretty freaky as the White Witch. Swinton has this ability to be a sort of chameleon and really morph into the characters she portrays and looking back on the films I have seen her in, especially this year like Trainwreck and Doctor Strange I'm figuring out that Swinton is actually a really underrated actress.

Now I've been talking a lot about this movie and it's relationship with Lord of the Rings and that's because at the end of the film there is a huge battle that is definitely the biggest sign of Disney trying to draw in that same crowd and get the people excited for an epic.

Now one of the things that hampered this movie from either going full Lord of the Rings rip off was the rating. Again, this is a kids film and like I've said, Disney did put work into making a kids film. But when it came to the big battle scene to try and bring in those Lord of the Rings fans, all you get is a PG battle.

But what I will say, especially on a second viewing is that the scale of this film is actually really well done and the battle, while it is pretty tame, especially compared to other epic battles, it's about as well done as it could have been.

I do know that this battle isn't something that they just threw in, it does happen in the book so don't get me wrong and think they just threw it in to try and recreate LOTR. Overall, the battle is done creatively and given as much leeway as it could get for a children's fairy tale.

And that's my overall thought for this entire movie. I have a little bit of a bias because I have such a soft spot for this particular story. Regardless of any of the gripes I have with the movie, I love the story of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and watching this movie has made me want to go back and read the book just to relive the story from my childhood. The important part of this movie is that you have to remember it's just a children's story.

I would actually love to see this franchise rebooted and attempted again 11 years later. This would allow the movie to be freed from the expectations I think a lot of people had for it and just make a fun fantasy adventure children's story.

I don't know if that's ever going to be a thing or if that's even a good idea, but who knows? Maybe in a couple years we might see this franchise revitalized and given time and effort past the first film.

But for what this movie is, it's a fine movie. It doesn't go down as one of my all time favorites due to my opinion that it doesn't totally nail the source material down precisely, but if you haven't heard the story of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, this is definitely a good version to check out and you won't be disappointed.

But those are my thoughts on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. What did you think? Did you ever watch the original cartoon? Do you think this version adapts a book that is already very difficult to adapt? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. So I found the entire cartoon version on YouTube! Depending on how much time I have in the next few weeks, you might see a review of this cartoon. But if you have time, check it out, it's actually a pretty good version. Enjoy!