Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - The Chronicles Of Narnia: Reviews, Raves, And Rants

I finally saw the cinematic treatment of one of my favorite author's, C.S. Lewis' fantastic morality myth for children of all ages. :)

I want to open the thread with some of your impressions of the film, and the books the preceeded it.

So let's hear your feedback on the first installment of the seven-book Narnia series: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe...

Narnia is a good movie – but not a great one – gorgeous cinematography, good acting but no standout performances. I was expecting to be bowled over by Tilda Swinton as the evil White Witch, but the part was too small and she didn’t ever seem to let loose. The little girl who played the youngest sister was impressive.

There were a couple of problems that I anticipated that turned out ok. I love talking animals but I almost invariably associate them with humor. The Lion, as a Christ figure, is obviously meant to be taken seriously and they pulled it off without a hint of unintended humor. I was also concerned that they would go too heavily into religious allegory – it’s there and recognizable but if you don’t know what to look for, you’ll hardly notice.

I can’t help but compare Narnia to the Harry Potter films. I’d put it above the first two (directed by Chris Columbus – not my favorite director – he ruined Rent) but not even in the same league with Harry Potter #3 or #4 (Goblet, the current one).

One theme in Narnia which appeals to me but wasn’t developed very well: the idea that, in the struggle between good and evil, it’s inevitable that there will be tremendous sacrifice. Without giving too much away, they touched on it but didn’t really bring it home – they needed more of a “wham-o”.

The movie did do a wham-o at the box office ($66M opening). Better than I would have thought, but then look at Passion of the Christ.

I liked it a lot more than I expected to; I honestly thought it was going to be heavy-handedly christ-y, and it wasn't. In contrast to the above, I think it's a far better movie than any of the Potters, and probably better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, if only because it's less tediously long (though LOTR would have been terrific if they hadn't bowed to fan pressure not to leave anything out, I don't think the story was interesting enough to justify the film's length).

Plus, I'm pretty sure there's never been a funnier time to make that Titanic joke than the moment when they're on the ice floe, and lord knows I love a good Titanic joke.

I can't recall ever reading the books. My wife's read them many times over, but I never knew they were based on Christianity(or whatever they're based on-like I said, haven't read 'em yet).

One thing that bugs me about the previews for the movie I've seen is that the CGI looks like, well, CGI. I could be getting the movie confused with the game:rolleyes:, tho. I tend to fast forward through commercials. What did you guys think of the graphics?

Ehhhhh, its ok, not my type of movie really, but it seems to be popular with many. Special effects were good but not great by any stretch, remind me of indiana jones movie type stuff just more evolved into todays technology, not as good as the matrix for certain,but adequate. Making a crossover type genre with both real life characters and cartoon animated type has its limits.

I havent seen the big screen version yet, just the screener, and watching a movie on a computer with a high res monitor tends to show any and all defects or shortcomings of a movie's cinematography. Chronicles of Narnia is definitely along the same lines as Harry Potter in many ways.

I'd say that movie was made a solid decade too late for me to care about.

I'd say that movie was made a solid decade too late for me to care about.

Just wait another decade or so and you'll love going back to kid movies. The incredibles was one of the best films I saw this year.

I thought Narnia was the cheesiest movie I've seen all year. I look forward to it playing saturday nights at 1am on USA for the rest of my life.

Truly a 'Beastmaster III' for this century.

I thought Narnia was the cheesiest movie I've seen all year. I look forward to it playing saturday nights at 1am on USA for the rest of my life.

Truly a 'Beastmaster III' for this century.
But how do you really feel about it?;)

I loved the movie - as soon as our family left the theatre we went straight to the bookstore to pick up all the books :D

I took my nieces to see it yesterday, I though it was better than the Harry Potter movies.

I was very impressed with Tilda Swinton's performance. She also has a very distinctive look, someone should cast her in a vampire movie. She could be the queen of the vampires.

Haven't seen it, but I'm a bit annoyed that it was previewed and hyped during several "G" rated films I took my 5-year-old daughter to see this year. We both got kind of excited to see Narnia, only to find out that it's rated PG (and really should be PG-13, from what I hear). Why'd they have to make it Braveheart with talking animals?

I was expecting to be bowled over by Tilda Swinton as the evil White Witch, but the part was too small and she didn’t ever seem to let loose.

Wasn't her fault, IMO. The role was weakly written (by Lewis and only afterward by the screenwriters). Also, her costume only looked impressive when she was filmed from below. From any other angle, it looked absurd. That's bad direction at more than one point. She did the best that could've been done with her straw man character.

Besides other issues of production values (such as faun and centaur costumes that folded where the creatures should have had muscle), the issues I have with the movie trace back to Lewis. To avoid spoilers, I'll just have to say that Tolkien provided more substance to build a world on, and thought it through better, than did Lewis.

i liked narnia.... but thought harry potter and king kong were better movies! i would go see HP and KK again... narnia.. i'll wait for the dvd's...

that said.. i did order the books that night when i got home! i'm reading LWW right now... it's taking me a while.. cuz i can't get into it.... i guess i expected harry potter... not sure i'll get through the other books.. this one isn't holding my interest....

we'll see....

Wasn't her fault, IMO. The role was weakly written (by Lewis and only afterward by the screenwriters). Also, her costume only looked impressive when she was filmed from below. From any other angle, it looked absurd. That's bad direction at more than one point. She did the best that could've been done with her straw man character.

Besides other issues of production values (such as faun and centaur costumes that folded where the creatures should have had muscle), the issues I have with the movie trace back to Lewis. To avoid spoilers, I'll just have to say that Tolkien provided more substance to build a world on, and thought it through better, than did Lewis.

I actually thought she did an excellent job. When she first came on the screen I instantly remembered her from Star Trek: First Contact and I agree Tilda Swinton should be in a Vampire movie as a queen vampire or something, she has the Evil Queen roles almost perfected.

And what do you mean Tolkien provided more substance to build a world on, and thought it through better, than did Lewis? I have already seen the movie so just PM me if you are afraid of spoiling it for everyone else.

Haven't seen it, but I'm a bit annoyed that it was previewed and hyped during several "G" rated films I took my 5-year-old daughter to see this year. We both got kind of excited to see Narnia, only to find out that it's rated PG (and really should be PG-13, from what I hear). Why'd they have to make it Braveheart with talking animals?

I was also quite suprised at the level of violence. I wouldn't take anyone younger than 10 to see it.

I was also quite suprised at the level of violence. I wouldn't take anyone younger than 10 to see it.

I couldn't agree more. I was glad for the children that the violence wasn't gory, but people/creatures/animals were still brutally killed.

Other than that, I thought the movie was fair. It was worth a matinee. I never read the books, so I can not comment on the movie v/s book deal.

LOML and I went to see it last night and I can't remember when I have enjoyed a movie so much. Much of the fun of this movie was in looking for parrallels between the story and Christianity. As others have mentioned, it is not a film for small children. Some of the characters were scarier than flying monkeys.

**SPOILER**

My favorite part was when the witch rode into battle with the only two polar bears pulling her cart. How pimp is that?

IMO not a bad movie, i had fun but it was a long cry from Lord of The Rings in almost every aspect. LOTR was way better IMO and Narnia was long too btw. Of course it was a different kind of movie but none the less i could have been a whole lot better. Mytholigical bits were very nice.

The Christian overtones bothered me some, plus the fact that Evil (Christian/Repbulican) Disney Empire "appropiates" many classics including Narnia does not sit well with me at all. From the intro you'd think that Lewis was minor help or scriptwriter and that all the Credit should go to Disney,.. Not.
jungle Book anyone? Disney has been at this for decades. If i say 'Junge Book' most people say 'Disney', but how many people know who wrote it more than 85 years before Disney made a killing with it. Anyway going of on a tangent here, just sayin'.

Narnia? Not bad. But i am not sure if i a happy i caught in a theatre of if i would rather have waited for the DVD.

The movie was good, but it didn't really follow the book that well. I don't remember the whole "riding the ice" scene being in the book, and it seemed a little unreal even for a fantasy. I also think it would have been better if they did the 3 movie thing, starting with the first book "The Magician's Nephew," and then continued through the other books. I hope they do make a version of "The Horse and His Boy" since that is a great book. Overall though I would recommend seeing the movie if your into Lord of Rings type stuff. Lewis and Tolkien were buddies in case you didn't know.