Cheap Cds - The Chronicles Of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe [2005]

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Customer Rating:

Summary: A mix between The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter...
Comment: This film was one I had an idle interest in watching when it first came out, but so idle I never
actually got round to it. But having seen posters for the new film and been advised to watch it, I
eventually dedicated some time to The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
And it was worth it. I've not read any of the books either, so I really had no idea what it was
about, except it was a kind of fairy tale type thing.

I found it sad right from the
off as the children are sent away into the country during the war to keep them safe. The scene where
they leave their mother I found particularly touching, especially as the oldest boy, Peter tries to
be the man and say he'll look after everyone.

On arriving in the countryside where
they are to live with a professor on his sprawling estate, the children are quite taken aback at the
manner of his housekeeper, and decide to keep out of hers and the professor's way at all times.
Given the house and gardens are enormous, they realise that's not going to be a problem. In fact,
youngest girl Lucy discovers that the grounds are even larger than they deemed possible. As the
children play Hide and Seek one day, Lucy finds an ornate wardrobe in a spare room and makes up her
mind this is the perfect place to hide. Even more so when she ventures further into the wardrobe and
suddenly plops into thick snow. Lucy has arrived in the world of Narnia. The little girl explores
alone, and even finds herself a friend and has an adventure. On returning to the wardrobe so her
brothers and sister don't get too worried, Lucy is dumbfounded when they hadn't even noticed she'd
gone. Although Lucy had been in Narnia for hours, the other children were still playing that same
game of Hide and Seek.

Realising she's found something rather special, Lucy tells her
siblings the story. None of them believe her, and when she goes to prove it to them, the back of the
wardrobe is predictably, solid wood. Frustrated and upset, Lucy insists she is telling the truth,
but with no proof to back her up, she is forced to accept her family won't believe her.
/>Soon enough though, all of the children hide in the wardrobe after smashing a window in the
professor's house. And this time, the gateway to Narnia is open once more. Delighted and smug, Lucy
is in her element. And this is where their adventures really begin. It appears the children have
stumbled into the middle of a war for control over Narnia - and their part is more important than
they ever believed possible...

I'm glad I watched this. I won't say it was
mind-blowing, but it was very good. And of course it's important to remember this is aimed at
children, though there's no reason big kids (such as myself) won't enjoy it. The way I'd describe
this film is a mix between The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which given I'm a huge fan of
both, is no bad thing. It didn't have quite so much tension as the other two, but as a PG, they
wouldn't have been able to include violence or anything too scary!

Overall, I reckon
you'll enjoy this if you're a fan of LOTR and/or HP and you love fairy tales!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A special film
Comment:

I came to The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe with some trepidation as I adore the BBC
series that was done some years ago and did not think it could easily be topped by simply
introducing some CGI. I was right. However, in it's defence, it was better than I was led to believe
it would be by other peoples responses to it. I think that if I had come to it fresh or just from
reading the book I would have got on with it a bit better. One of the main problems I had with the
film was the children themselves. Now I always found Peter and Susan vaguely annoying in the book/TV
series for being too `goody-goody' so I wasn't surprised at my dislike for them. But Edmund had
always been my favourite character by far and I found him detestable in this. And not simply in the
way you are supposed as he is a traitor etc because, as I said, I liked his character in the book.
Lucy I found a little too wide-eyed and vacant but she grew on me throughout the film. I think I
just found her a little too young for the role, it made it a little unbelievable. Now to the other
characters. Good job with the beavers, they were spot on. Mr Tumnus seems to have been transformed
from a likeable if initially misguided character into a creepy slightly paedophilic figure which
disturbed me somewhat. The wolves I found too `cute', nowhere near as scary as in the TV series
(yes, ok, they were more realistic (especially since some real!) but not terrifying like they should
be). Dwarves, ghouls, fawns etc all ok, didn't stand out as particularly good or bad. Tilda Swinton
spot on as the white witch. Could not have thought of anyone better to cast in this role. She always
has a menacing, slightly psychotic air which is perfect. Not convinced on Liam Neeson as Aslan, I
thought a deeper, more authoritative voice would have been better but I got used to it. Now I don't
know how long the TV series was but this film felt far too condensed - it's a long time since I read
the book but I got the feeling there was a lot missing, I just can't quite place what. I also
disliked the battle scenes, they seem to have fallen into the CGI trap of `lets show what we can do
and how impressive it can be' rather than showing specific parts of the battle with key characters
in detail. There was a little bit of close-up but nowhere near enough to show the true intensity of
a battle. One thing I did like is that I found that they kept the whole Christian thing quite low
key (I know others didn't think this from the posts on the message boards but I did). I never
spotted this in the books as a child and when I learnt it as an adult it disappointed me greatly as
I am not Christian and do not agree with Christianity. It ruined the books for me to a degree when I
thought back over them and I thought they did a good job stopping it from taking over the film.
Here's hoping they manage to improve on what they've done so far and make Prince Caspian better -
hopefully the children will have grown into their roles more improving that side and I'm praying
(excuse the irony!) that they avoid the `just throw CGI at them' approach for the battles. Overall,
well worth watching if you haven't seen the TV series, otherwise you may want to avoid if that lies
close to your heart!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Very enjoyable
Comment: This is a really lovely film- very watchable, great acting, good message. As a family film I prefer
it to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter etc by a mile- the main reason because it just leaves a
really nice taste in the mouth at the end. Oh the kids loved it too....
Good stuff.

Customer Rating:

Summary: I must admit the talking animal was very fascinating
Comment: I've never read the original artwork by C.S. Lewis, so my review can by no means assess how true the
movie actually is to the original. My kids mildly enjoy this movie and I find it quite interesting.
`Narnia' is a good film due to the books and not something that can be credited to the movie's
producers. The fantasy and the power of magic that pervades the story might make any child's eyes
gleam in admiration and amazement. This needs to be appreciated and makes `Narnia' a nice Christmas
movie as well.

The characters are somewhat indifferent, save for little Lucy played by
Georgie Henley. The remaining three siblings -- Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Peter (William Moseley),
and Susan (Anna Popplewell) also done a good job as well but their characters wasn't as convincing
as Lucy's. The two male actors in particular seem a bit overcharged with the movie's scope. They act
decently in a way that would definitely suffice for a movie of lesser dimension. This is probably
due to a lack of sophistication in terms of the kids' acting skills. Maybe the casting department
should have chosen more experienced actors instead of utter newcomers but they had to start
somewhere. I can imagine what a challenge it was to process something as huge as Lewis' `Narnia.' It
seems to me that the producers wanted to jam as much input into the story as possible, which
hampered the natural development of the plot. How can you expect the two boys being good at fighting
with their swords in a huge battle? Why are the main characters rejuvenated when they re-enter the
wardrobe? In addition some scenes were indeed very corny and too stereotypical for me - even young
kids can expect a bit more. The deep emotions were not really influential, which brings me back to
the inexperienced actors. What save `Narnia' was the magic of it all. Talking animals, beautiful
landscapes, funny dialogs, themes of redemption and courage - this is something to be appreciated,
as it might inspire children and adults alike. The movie is an eye-catcher in terms of wonderful
visualizations that does justice to Lewis' perception of `Narnia.'

"The Chronicles of
Narnia" is a unique story that had room for improvement, but hopefully they can work at it the
second time around. Still, with intense battle scenes, menacing encounters with the witch and her
minions, and the seemingly fatal injuries suffered by major characters, it seems to me that this
film pushes its PG rating to the limits but who am I to judge.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Babyish response to the 'fantasy novel' movie craze!!
Comment: I don't really have much to praise this movie for, to be honest i don't think the makers of this
movie made it because of a genuine enthusiasm for the work of C.S.Lewis at all. I have given it two
stars because it wasn't too bad a thing to watch, but that is if you forget it is supposed to be THE
narnia chronicles by THE C.S Lewis based on THE books. It is far too babyish, cute and 'american' to
be even compared to the books. In fact it is only a spin off of society's latest frenzy for fantasy
movies, apapted from books, featuring childish characters who go to war, facing dragons, griffins,
talking animals and even more computor-graphic reliant 'good and evil'. The modern soundtrack is
pathetic, the whole americanised, disney, cutesy, modern-cockney-slang using computor generated
beavers and mafia-esque wolves is just irritating, and the
'altered-to-be-family-friendly-doubtful-arguing-trust-love-friendship' etc bonds between the four
children was stomach churningly dim witted.
The visuals weren't even that good either, and
yet the film relies on them, since they haven't even adapted the original story to anything worthy
of credit either.
The only thing i can really think of that impressed me was how Aslan was
adapted, even then he comes across as a real life version of the Lion kings Mufasa... The white
witch is alright i suppose, just too mumsy and calm to be considered a really terrible, evil,
threatening villainess.
I think that if your going to adapt a series of books as majestic and
as imaginative as The Narnia chronicles than you should do it with equal, memorable majesty and
originality.
The big battle scenes, the variety of make up clad beasts, the twisted forever
present theme of little people from a little place going off into the big bad war torn world, its
all too familiar with the Lord of the rings, Harry Potter and eragon etc. ITS BORING.
People
are dying of starvation out in the world, and yet we western people spend millions of dollars on
unfaithful, rapid, cliched, fast-food movies like this... it really is well, rather stupid.

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