The M.O.W.'s Movie Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Certainly a special FX movie
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08

Four children (Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell) discover the amazing land of "Narnia" after stepping through an enchanted wardrobe found in the house they have sought refuge in from World War II London in this amazing adaptation of the book by CS Lewis.

The first thing I have to say is that you should find the widescreen format for this movie. The visuals are amazing, and the pan-and-scan format just doesn't do it justice. You especially need the widescreen format for the huge battle near the climax of the movie.

There are some incredible special effects and make-up jobs in this movie. The CGI creatures are perfectly blended into the scene from what I could tell. However, the CGI characters are not perfect. Although the movement of these characters are nicely animated, the hair and fur of the creatures do not look realistic on most of them.

There are some weak performances in this movie. One of the worst is from Tilda Swinton, who was pretty much flat through the entire film as "The White Witch". The other human cast had some bad spots in their performance, but not much.

There were some points in the film that appeared to drag to me. Some of these scenes were a little too long and made me pay more attention to my computer until I got hooked back in.

Except for the bland "White Witch" wardrobe (no pun intended), the costumes look pretty nice. However, none of the costumes are brightly colored and can look a little boring.

One thing this movie does not do is make you want to read the novel if you haven't read it yet. If you read it before seeing the film, then possibly the magic of the book is there in the film. Because I did not read the book, I just didn't think it was as magical as it could have been.

The music, though not spectacular, is pretty good. The music could have been better in some spots, and other spots could have been enhanced if music were used. I personally could not get into the music.

But, reading the book is not really needed. You should be able to enjoy the movie thanks to the special effects and pretty good story. I would have to say that this could be in your Top 4 choices if the one you want to see is unavailable. I can see watching this movie maybe just one more time.