Rating of
2.5/4
Didn't make me want to read the book
The M.O.W. - wrote on 09/08/09
Four siblings (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley) are whisked back in time to the magical land of "Narnia" when the four are waiting for a train.
They find the land, in which they were declared royalty hundreds of "Narnia's" years before, in ruins.
They eventually learn that the prince (Ben Barnes) of the neighboring "Telmar" summond them with a magical horn, and decide to help him get to the throne as he was destined.
However, the uncle (Sergio Castellitto) of the prince, who is king of "Telmar", wants the prince dead. But, the siblings and the prince rally the "Narnians" into battle.
Let me say this first that this, and the last one in the series I watched (I think it was the first movie in the series, but that was long ago) is not making me want to read the books they are based on. I usually lean more toward science-fiction than fantasy, so that could be the reason as to why I don't want to read the source material.
I found the story long, and dragged on fairly slow. However, it never slowed to a crawl. In fact, though the pace was pretty slow, it was just fast enough to keep you from getting too bored. The begining of the movie was really slow, and made me want to turn it off. However, once the siblings got to "Narnia," the movie's pace picked up to something more bareable.
I wasn't really impressed with the performances in the movie, but the actors did a fine job. I did like how the chemistry between the actors worked out, especially those who were in the previous film.
One thing that must have looked amazing on the big screen was the scenery and special effects. From what I have read about this film, a good majority of the film's budget went to the special effects -- of which there is alot. In fact, this film heavily relies on special effects.
In this film, you get scenery that would be impossible, if not too expensive to make. You also get at least 99% of the cast as CGI characters.
I usually hate characters made entirely by a computer, but the ones in this film are simply the best I've seen. Usually, human actors aren't looking into the CGI characters' eyes when they are together on screen. However, it appeared to me that the CGI characters are lined up perfectly.
The only downside of the CGI characters is that hair and fur do not look realistic ever. Look at the animals in this film on close-ups, and you will see what I mean. This is especially evident with the lion "Aslan" (voiced by Liam Neeson). In close-ups, the fur on his body, not to mention his eyes, don't look realistic. However, the animation is amazing with all these characters.
The voice actors worked very well, including scenes with real people. Many times, I forgot that I was looking at a talking lion or mouse. I have to give props to the human actors who had to perform with the CGI characters. Their performances helped bring the CGI characters into reality really well.
I wasn't really impressed with character development with new characters in this film. The lead villain had only enough screen time to explain to the audience why he does what he does, but he doesn't get enough time on-screen to develop in a way to where you would not like him the instant he returns to the screen.
If I remember correctly, the actors portraying the siblings were pretty bad in the first film. There was some big improvement, especially with the youngest actors. If you ask me, the human actors really didn't stand out from each other.
Wardrobes in this film were great in this film. Human clothing mainly consisted of darker tones. There were no brightly colored outfits that stood out like a sore thumb. The clothing seemed to be really accurate for the time period.
The action was spread out through the entire film. None of which built to the battle between the forces of good and evil. There was one major battle, followed by a sword fight that was really hurt by it being placed right after the battle.
Because the world of "Narnia" is over a thousand years ago, you deal with weaponry that does produce blood. However, there is no blood where there should be. Parents will not have to worry about any serious amounts of blood, nor will they worry about any foul language.
Except for one particular piece of music, I really don't remember the soundtrack in this film. I do remember one song near the end of the movie because it's the only one I noticed with singing. Most of the music is just insrumentals that did help enhance the scenes. It was nothing memorable though.
Catch this on HBO if there is nothing else on. This movie, in my opinion, is not good enough to skip a favorite television program over. It almost comes close though.
