The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

If I recall correctly, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first real “chapter book” I ever read on my own outside of school. I must have been 8 or 9 when I did so, because by the time I entered sixth grade I know I had finished reading the entire Narnia series of six novels. In anticipation of the new movie, which I dragged my friends to on Friday, I reread the first three novels last month. Of course they went much faster this time, but what I was particularly struck by in rereading them was how transparently obvious the religious allegory is. For that reason, and bearing in mind the recent success of Mel Gibson’s Passion, I was a bit worried the movie would go over-the-top, alienate secular audiences and be more preachy than entertaining. My fond childhood memories and confidence that if skillfully adapted the story could make a first-rate film, however, were enough that I remained excited to see it.

I was not disappointed. In fact, my expectations were surpassed. Visually the movie is of course wonderful. The score is engaging in just the right places. The screenplay is faithful where it counts, adding scenes the book implies and readers would have imagined, but may not have been actually inked, while only removing the superfluous. The direction keeps thing unpredictable for those who haven’t read the book while maintaining the interest of those who have. The acting performances aren’t going to win any Oscars, but were for the most part fine, especially considering the movie uses mostly unknown child actors. And the religion? It’s there if you want to see it, but it doesn’t overwhelm. Some of my friends (who as I understand it were all pleasantly surprised by the movie as well) didn’t even notice.

My only complaints, and they are very minor, are that two characters are not quite exactly how I would have imagined them. First, Liam Neeson did a fine job voicing Aslan, but in my mind the character should have a more powerful undertone – James Earl Jones would have been perfect, although I suppose some would have trouble seeing past the Darth Vader mask. Second, I read Professor Kirke as being very straight-laced and proper on the outside, with only the words that came out of his mouth being the least bit idiosyncratic, as opposed to the quirky eccentric as played by Jim Broadbent. But as I said, these are extremely minor issues and not really problems as much as they are things I would have personally done differently.

All in all, thumbs enthusiastically up.

Tags: entertainment