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

What grade would you give this film?
A 33%  33%  [ 27 ]
B 23%  23%  [ 19 ]
C 26%  26%  [ 21 ]
D 7%  7%  [ 6 ]
F 11%  11%  [ 9 ]
Total votes : 82

 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the... 
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College Boy Z

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

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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It was co-produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes play Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund, four British children evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia. There they ally with the Lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).

The film was released on December 9, 2005 in both Europe and North America to positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office. It won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Make Up and various other awards and is the first film in the series of films based on the books. An Extended Edition was released on December 12, 2006 and was only made available on DVD until January 31, 2007 when it was discontinued. It was the best selling DVD in North America in 2006 taking in $332.7 million that year.


Last edited by zingy on Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:12 pm
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C+

Bland with really terrible Visual FX. Interesting story, but there's no drive to finish it, and by the end it's just tedious.


Thu Dec 08, 2005 5:11 pm
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Guys

Any thoughts or reviews you have would really be appreciated over here.
http://www.worldofkj.com/coverage/narni ... m=&ucat=7&

Thank you so much.


Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:51 pm
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http://www.worldofkj.com/reviews/Arsalan/CoNLWW.php

A-
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But what allows this film from falling into a pool of boredom though is the world itself that has been created. You’ll notice a lot of CGI in this film and I personally think that WETA this time round has outdone itself, not only in terms of the computer generated characters but the numerous models that they have created as well. I spent most of the time marveling at the beavers, Aslan, and a fox on screen, trying to absorb the fact that none of those characters or animals have existed in any shape or form. Add the excellent cinematography to it, and the appeal each character brings to the screen, CGI or otherwise, and one will soon forget the lack of excitement that I mentioned before.


Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:54 pm
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bAbA, WETA didn't have anything to do with the CGI. And you thought Aslan looked real?


Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:59 pm
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The Dark Shape wrote:
bAbA, WETA didn't have anything to do with the CGI. And you thought Aslan looked real?


aslan looked amazing

umm ... isn't weta handling everything to do with narnia?


Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:00 pm
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bABA wrote:
The Dark Shape wrote:
bAbA, WETA didn't have anything to do with the CGI. And you thought Aslan looked real?


aslan looked amazing

umm ... isn't weta handling everything to do with narnia?


None of the CG effects, more of the costuming and modeling and make-up and whatnot.

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Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:27 pm
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EDIT: Now less crap.

It may be a given, but *SPOILERS*

I was up early and buzzing with excitement but by lunchtime I was leaving the theatre ultimately disappointed. It’s not that the first chapter in the Narnia series is a bad film. It’s just that it isn’t anything more than an okay one, and despite never having the read the books I felt the hype surrounding the release warranted a better pay-off.

For those unfamiliar with the story (like I was) this is essentially a tale about two brothers and two sisters who move away from their mother during especially dangerous times in the second world war and find themselves whisked away into an enchanting world of strange creatures; a world frozen over by a century-long winter as it suffers under the reign of the cruel White Witch (played expertly by Tilda Swinton). Before long the children discover that they have a part to play in the fate of Narnia, but whether this world is as enchanting or as important to preserve for the audience as it is for the children entering it is another matter.

The weakest part of the film was undoubtedly the first act - I didn't feel any sense of magic or wonder about Narnia at the start and as a result it became difficult to suspend my disbelief as per more involving and convincing fantasy flicks (read: Harry Potter or The Lord Of The Rings) and connect with it as an "actual place" worth giving a damn about later on. Maybe that was partly due to the fact that Narnia’s introduction when Lucy wanders in seemed too much like a carefully designed movie set than a real spot in the middle of a forest to really identify with her on-screen astonishment, with claustrophobic cinematography contributing to this as well as - and you might call this nitpicking but it really gave the place an unauthentic feel and I won't lie and say it didn't contribute to my reaction to these scenes - the fact that only when Edmund goes through the magic cupboard did either of the kids seem even remotely affected by the icy conditions which supposedly surrounded them. And how can a world represented in this way really capture the imagination if it doesn’t feel like the kids are really there? The opening stages before and after the initial forays into Narnia are also hampered in that the exchanges and conflicts between the kids are far too typical and poorly-written right from the get-go. This flick hardly gets off to a good start.

Having said all that the film picks up in the second half, in particular around the point where Edmund returns and the kids are working together as a family again - the dynamics of their relationship that I felt were quite weak and clichéd at the start of the film here click and are much more convincing which is hugely helpful in allowing the moviegoer to become much more interested in their goal. Furthermore, Tilda Swinton does a good job in playing the wicked Queen and loathing her is probably enough to make you want them to succeed in defeating her, it worked for me anyway. In the end it just feels like there should be more than just that though - that Narnia should seem worth saving. That the characters should seem worth saving. I'm not a heartless bastard who wants them all to perish unless the director can make me madly fall in love with them but Adamson at least could have at least tried a bit harder.

My biggest gripe? Too kid friendly for my taste. I love a good family friendly movie but if you didn't like the way Robbie survived War Of The Worlds, wait till you see the magic potion that ensures nobody good can possibly die. If Edmund/Mr. Tumnus/*insert anyone who appeared on-screen for at least 2 seconds with good intentions* had died it might be a downer ending for kids, but boy oh boy was the unanimous survival a downer ending for me in that it really undermined the magnitude of what they had to do by not having at least some sacrifice. Or maybe I am just a cold heartless bastard afterall. Other gripes that I won't elaborate on would be some very minor but passable contrivances and predictable turns of events, again mostly in act one.

Final comment: The visuals. Action was great in the battle scenes, and I didn't mind the PG-friendly lack of blood and gore because it was still effective without it. Special effects throughout the movie were a bit hit-and-miss at times: Aslan & the wolves were really good in my opinion, but the beavers on the other hand looked like Adamson had copied and pasted something from Shrek onto a real-life backdrop. CG is employed effectively however both in creating effective landscapes and in animating the castle near the film’s conclusion.

All in all, it’s worth seeing once so I’d recommend you check it out despite its many flaws mainly because there are several scenes that deserve the big-screen treatment. Just don’t get your hopes up and you might enjoy the ride more than I did.

I'd give it a C+ myself, that's 3 out of 5 or "just-above-average" in my book.

(In assessing the film and in particular the deaths or lack-thereof of characters, I'm ignoring the whole argument about "But it happened that way in the book." I wasn't reading the book. I was watching the movie. And while watching the movie I felt that way about it)

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Last edited by Amos on Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.



Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:22 pm
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I'm the exact opposite. I thought the beavers looked much better than the wolves. And there isn't a single frame of film where Aslan looks real.


Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:12 pm
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The Dark Shape wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. I thought the beavers looked much better than the wolves. And there isn't a single frame of film where Aslan looks real.


Aslan and Beavers rocked. you guys just have bad screens.


Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:19 pm
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The review on the title page seems much too pessimistic to give it an A-. Sounds like a B according the the reviewer.


Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:39 am
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bABA wrote:
The Dark Shape wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. I thought the beavers looked much better than the wolves. And there isn't a single frame of film where Aslan looks real.


Aslan and Beavers rocked. you guys just have bad screens.


Aslan looked horribly soft. It was like watching a bad DVD. If anyone was watching the film on a bad screen, it was you. I suppose if the entire movie looked soft Aslan would've been fine.


Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:41 am
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The Dark Shape wrote:
I'm the exact opposite. I thought the beavers looked much better than the wolves. And there isn't a single frame of film where Aslan looks real.


Haha, I disagree with both of you. I think the wolves and the beavers looked great, but Aslan looked fake most of the time.

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Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:58 am
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http://www.worldofkj.com/reviews/Tyler/NarniaTLTWTW.php


B


Quote:


I can imagine that it was not hard to adapt the book into the movie as the book itself is pretty short with around 100-130 pages (depending on the edition). Many cinematic adaptations of literary sources usually deal with problems of having to cut some stuff from the book. This one was seemingly much rather concerned with adding some new stuff in order to spice up the story. The Narnia books have never been much about story details and much rather about the meaning behind them. That reads well, but would probably not look so good on the big screen, especially considering that the final battle in the book is depicted in just a couple of sentences. Basically, the book could almost be used as a screenplay with just some extensions and additions. I must say, though, that all these extensions and additions worked very well and I was glad that they were added as they somewhat helped to explore the characters more and added some excitement.

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Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:32 am
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A-

A fantastic journey and really one of the best films of the year. The CGI effects, in my opinion, were some of the best seen since Lord of the Rings. The child actors did an amazing job though they were certainly by no means perfect. Tilda Swinton also delivered a solid performance.

Overall, its one of my favorites of the year. Perhaps because it has a slightly different meaning to me. I grew up on the BBC version and to see C.S. Lewis' world fully realized is just amazing.

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Fri Dec 09, 2005 1:02 pm
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BJs Grade:

A

This film rocked in all sorts of ways, easily powering its way to BJs top 10 of 2005. The magic of Narnia, definately a film that can be watched over and over and over and over :happy:

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Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:18 pm
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After hearing Christians raise a hoopla over this having religious undertones, and not reading the book as a child, my interest for Narnia prior to this evening was almost nonexistent. I'm happy to report that Narnia is a very well crafted, imaginative children's movie. The actors worked in their parts, the CGI was mostly superb, and the visuals in general tended to be quite beautiful and sweeping. The general execution was great for any movie, let alone an epic adaptation.

My grade - B/B+

Grade for a Children's flick - A


As an aside, it was cool to see whatshisface, Col from The Crying Game, as the professor. He was one of my favorite parts of TCG and did a lovely job in his brief time onscreen in Narnia.


Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:41 pm
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lennier wrote:
After hearing Christians raise a hoopla over this having religious undertones, and not reading the book as a child, my interest for Narnia prior to this evening was almost nonexistent. I'm happy to report that Narnia is a very well crafted, imaginative children's movie. The actors worked in their parts, the CGI was mostly superb, and the visuals in general tended to be quite beautiful and sweeping. The general execution was great for any movie, let alone an epic adaptation.

My grade - B/B+

Grade for a Children's flick - A


As an aside, it was cool to see whatshisface, Col from The Crying Game, as the professor. He was one of my favorite parts of TCG and did a lovely job in his brief time onscreen in Narnia.


You DO have an obsession with The Crying Game.

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Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:55 pm
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Dr. Lecter wrote:
lennier wrote:
After hearing Christians raise a hoopla over this having religious undertones, and not reading the book as a child, my interest for Narnia prior to this evening was almost nonexistent. I'm happy to report that Narnia is a very well crafted, imaginative children's movie. The actors worked in their parts, the CGI was mostly superb, and the visuals in general tended to be quite beautiful and sweeping. The general execution was great for any movie, let alone an epic adaptation.

My grade - B/B+

Grade for a Children's flick - A


As an aside, it was cool to see whatshisface, Col from The Crying Game, as the professor. He was one of my favorite parts of TCG and did a lovely job in his brief time onscreen in Narnia.


You DO have an obsession with The Crying Game.



Shut up! :happy: It's a fantastic movie! One of those indescribable, infinitely unique ones! And loyal agrees- he's listed it as his #2 of all time. Either that, or he's desperate for me to stalk him out of admiration for his impeccable taste in transsexual entertainment. :shades:


Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:02 am
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Talking animals rock :2thumbsup: !

The Chronicles of Narnia is a vibrant and wonderfully realized fantasy epic. I came into it with no knowledge of the text, just as I did for Lord of the Rings and was thoroughly entertained and enchanted by this story. The kids were all great, but special mention must go to the girl who played Lucy, she was very natural and so very charming. Tilda Swinton made a damn fine villian out of the White Witch and all the voice acting, from the beavers to Aslan was terrific. The effects work, creature effects and make-up were all very impressive. The animals are NOT supposed to look 100% real, so I find it quite sad that anyone would be upset over what should be a non-issue. If I was being nit-picky I could point to a couple of shots of the wolves and the white reindeer as being overly fake, but in general the animals were great looking and interacted with their environment quite convincingly. And that's not to say that at times both the beavers and wolves didn't look damn near close to real in some shots anyway. The real triumph though, is the spectacular battle sequence at the end of the film. The sun is beating down on a expansive grassy field, as two huge armies filled with every damn cool creature and animal imaginable proceed to kick the shit out of each other. Adamson and the talented digital artists (from a variety of effects houses) deliver a battle scene like no other before it and a huge visual accomplishment. We're even treated to a pretty damn decent one-on-one duel between the White Witch and Peter and man, can she really handle herself! Then comes the triumphant return of Aslan (who kicked all sorts of ass by the way) which brings the movie to a very nice conclusion.

If there is anything to protest about I would say that the movie was a tad syrupy, though many a time I did get a little misty, and some of the action sequences were placed a little too closely to each other. I would have had no problems with the film being 20 or 30 minutes longer, to get a little more knowledge about Narnia and Aslan perhaps. As it is, the movie moved very briskly.

A


Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:08 am
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lennier wrote:
Dr. Lecter wrote:
lennier wrote:
After hearing Christians raise a hoopla over this having religious undertones, and not reading the book as a child, my interest for Narnia prior to this evening was almost nonexistent. I'm happy to report that Narnia is a very well crafted, imaginative children's movie. The actors worked in their parts, the CGI was mostly superb, and the visuals in general tended to be quite beautiful and sweeping. The general execution was great for any movie, let alone an epic adaptation.

My grade - B/B+

Grade for a Children's flick - A


As an aside, it was cool to see whatshisface, Col from The Crying Game, as the professor. He was one of my favorite parts of TCG and did a lovely job in his brief time onscreen in Narnia.


You DO have an obsession with The Crying Game.



Shut up! :happy: It's a fantastic movie! One of those indescribable, infinitely unique ones! And loyal agrees- he's listed it as his #2 of all time. Either that, or he's desperate for me to stalk him out of admiration for his impeccable taste in transsexual entertainment. :shades:


You just liked [spoil]the penis[/spoil]

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Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:09 am
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Dr. Lecter wrote:


You just liked [spoil]the penis[/spoil]


That is a complete lie. I'm indifferent. I tend to think of Jaye Davidson as an ugly man, anyway. Besides,...

[spoil]It was tiny anyway[/spoil]

We really shouldn't be having this conversation in a thread about a Christian children's movie. I feel really perverted, like a Catholic or something naughty.


Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:29 am
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Hehehehe, I thought exactly the same thing after my post. Lol.

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Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:37 am
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Dr. Lecter wrote:
lennier wrote:
Dr. Lecter wrote:
lennier wrote:
After hearing Christians raise a hoopla over this having religious undertones, and not reading the book as a child, my interest for Narnia prior to this evening was almost nonexistent. I'm happy to report that Narnia is a very well crafted, imaginative children's movie. The actors worked in their parts, the CGI was mostly superb, and the visuals in general tended to be quite beautiful and sweeping. The general execution was great for any movie, let alone an epic adaptation.

My grade - B/B+

Grade for a Children's flick - A


As an aside, it was cool to see whatshisface, Col from The Crying Game, as the professor. He was one of my favorite parts of TCG and did a lovely job in his brief time onscreen in Narnia.


You DO have an obsession with The Crying Game.



Shut up! :happy: It's a fantastic movie! One of those indescribable, infinitely unique ones! And loyal agrees- he's listed it as his #2 of all time. Either that, or he's desperate for me to stalk him out of admiration for his impeccable taste in transsexual entertainment. :shades:


You just liked [spoil]the penis[/spoil]


:hahaha:

you crazy kids.

Lennier is dead on. It's almost impossible to describe The Crying Game. It's the best film about relationships that I've ever seen. A masterpiece.

I'm going to watch Narnia at 10 AM (needed to add that to mask the highjacking).


Sat Dec 10, 2005 7:35 am
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i think that the movie suffered from being kid friendly. i know that it was a kids book and everything, but i think that this movie could really have been something had it been more than a kids movie. i thought that the visuals were great most of the time. the wolves and the beavers were amazing, the best "real" CG animals ever and i thought that Aslan was really good usually but a few bad parts. the actors all did a very good job, there werent any of those awful child-actor-moments that frequently happen with kids. i also thought that one part was amazingly funny. when edmund was riding the horse and said something like "whoa horsey" and the horse turned to him and said "my name is phillip" in a completely serious, unamused voice i could not stop laughing. i was not expecting that at all and it was genuinely hilarious.
i also didnt like how everyone who died was resurrected or whatever, it took any meaning and purpose away from their deaths. i was just sitting there and i was like "so at the end everyones going to be fine then", and i didnt read the books. i also didnt like Lucys magic fix-all potion, as soon as she got that i knew that one of the kids would be mortally wounded and then saved. i also thought that they didnt really make good use of the stuff that santa gave them. Susan used her bow&arrow once and it was on a crappy low level minion, Lucy never used her dagger, and i cant even remember what Edmund got. i also thought that it was all greatly rushed. it was like "oh your here yay, now theres war, now its like 20 yrs later and now its over". i also had problems with the logic, as in there being not much. all the problems i have though stem from the kid movie thing, if this were a movie for adults then story and plot would have played a bigger part as opposed to the strictly visual, only-as-much-plot-as-needed-for-kids way that it was done in.
i know this sounds like a lot of negative but i did like it overall, and it would definitely fall in the B-/B area.

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