For decades famed author C. S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" have enchanted children and helped set the bar for fantasy writing. Modern day fairy tales, the profound but playful stories begin with "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". As Lewis himself would have pointed out, this sort of adventure isn't aimed at kids, but at the kid in everyone, no matter how old they are. You may want to stay away if long ago you smothered your inner child with the pillow of adulthood practicality. On the other hand, you just might want to indulge yourself. With this movie the story is brought to life in a way that could be just what you need to breathe life back into your long lost imagination.
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are four young siblings living in War World II London. To save them from the dangerous Nazi air raids, their mother sends them to live in the boring countryside manor of a man they know only as "The Professor". During their explorations of the house they encounter a room containing nothing but a magnificent wardrobe. Inside, where they would expect to find the back wall, they discover the branches of pine trees in a frozen forest. Exploring a little further, an amazing land unfolds before them, the land of Narnia.
They quickly come into the hospitality of two talking Beavers who are rather excited to find four human children wandering about their land. The presence of the humans is to them the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. They believe the children have come to join forces with Aslan, a great lion and true king of Narnia, to defeat an evil Witch who claims to be queen and has covered the land in an eternal winter. Despite the dangers they face, the children decide to do what they can to help and soon find themselves in the middle of a war for the future of Narnia and the greatest adventure of their lives.
There is so much that could go wrong bringing this classic and beloved story to the screen. The fact that five of the six main characters are either children or a talking lion is a frightening place to start. Whatever fears fans of the book might have had, Andrew Adamson puts them to rest. His quartet of young actors playing the Pevensie children are absolutely perfect, giving honest and endearing performances. As for Aslan, he may very well be the most perfect CG creation to date. No matter how hard you try to find the flaws, there are still moments when you swear you're looking at a real lion. Not just Aslan, but all the animal characters are near pixel perfect. Their emotional expressions are so perfectly crafted that you'll smile when they, cry when they face defeat, and cheer when they charge into battle.
Of course, there's always excitement generated when a movie of this caliber announces an extended edition release. Sadly enough, this is one case where the reality doesn't live up to the hype. The film meets the requirements of being an extended edition by feathering in an extra ten minutes, but most of it is so subtle and brief that unless you've recently watched the original theatrical version you won't even notice the new updates. Fans of the battle scene have the most to cheer about with some of the more dramatic new footage being added to that part of the movie. I was looking forward to some of the finale celebration footage that showed up in the trailers but was tremendously disappointed to find that for whatever reason it wasn't included.
With The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Adamson and his cast and crew have not only made a wonderful movie, they've laid a tremendous foundation for the other six stories in the series. Whether or not they all get made, there's no question that they're off to a perfect start.
|
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: Four-Disc Extended Edition - DVD Review
![](http://ak.buy.com/buy_assets/v5/img/clear.gif"){kind=spacer}
