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

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Spotlight customer reviews:
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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Not as good as the BBC series.
Comment: My girlfriend and I both watched the BBC series when we were younger and had high expectations of
the film, We felt that the film didn't do the story justice and would recomend the bbc version.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Enjoyable, but not great.
Comment: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is Disney's attempt at buying into
the fantasy franchises that have become more and more popular recently. The success of The Lord of
the Rings Trilogy has helped open the door for classic books, especially those that will involve
swords and sorcery, and some of these have been more successful than others. Thankfully this is a
qualified success, almost very good but not quite.

This film is the tale of the four
Pevensie siblings evacuated from London during the dark days of the blitz. Peter is the eldest and
is trying to be responsible for his younger sisters and his moody and often irresponsible brother
Edmund. Susan, the eldest sister is the sensible one while young Lucy is friendly and imaginative.
When placed in the home of an elderly professor they accidentally discover a wardrobe that acts as a
magical gateway to the land of Narnia where it is always winter, never Christmas thanks to the dark
rule of a White Witch.

The scenery is one of the stars of this film with bleak ice
castles, snowy woods, beaver dam-houses, and grassy plains all being extremely easy on the eye. A
large part of the film was shot in New Zealand and the same craggy fields that so vividly brought
Middle Earth to life do so again here. The effects are also generally good, the film employs a
number of fantasy creatures and talking animals and if these had been badly rendered it would have
failed. There are a few dodgy looking beasties, especially in the eye-popping final battle scene,
but for the most part they're well done- especially the important animals like the beavers, wolves,
and of course the eponymous lion Aslan.

The cast vary greatly in their quality and its
one of the films failings. The children are the focus of the movie and needed to be very good.
However, not all of them are up to par. Georgie Henley manages to avoid the trap of being too
cutesy that so many child actors fall into and invests her Lucy with a likeability that the film
would have struggled without. Similarly, Skander Keynes as Edmund is also very good, conveying the
greed, selfishness, then fear and eventual heroism with conviction. Unfortunately the same cannot
be said for Anna Popplewell, whose "sensible" Susan is merely whiney and annoying, and William
Moseley as Peter, more wooden than the wardrobe in the title of the film. The supporting cast is
strong, Jim Broadbent only appears for a few minutes but suffuses his scenes with warmth. Liam
Neeson provides the voice of Aslan and does well enough, similarly James MacAvoy puts in a good
performance as Mr Tumnus, a faun and Lucy's erstwhile kidnapper and first friend in Narnia. The
best performance though comes from the ice cold Tilda Swinton who, even when she's practically
dripping with malice, never becomes a caricature and always convinces as Jadis, the White Witch. />
Overall The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a decent film with a strong moral message
about family togetherness and responsibility that is good for kids. While mostly bloodless there
are a few moments that might be a bit strong for younger children, especially in the final battle.
Its impossible not to compare this film with the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and it fares
pretty well against this esteemed competition. This is also only the first in a series of films so
there's plenty of opportunity for improvement. As a stand alone film its solid, enjoyable, pretty,
and bears repeated viewing which is all it needed to do.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Relief it was not spoiled
Comment: I was extremely nervous about seeing this as the book had such a huge impact on me, and I regularly
re-read the whole Narnia series. However there was very little to complain about. The book is
faithfully rendered in spirit and plot, and Narnia does come to life on the screen. Obviously
everyone who loves the book has their own fixed idea of how things should look - for me it was the
original, 60's illustrations. My white witch was whiter, my faun older, and I thought Aslan had a
few dicey moments which made him look as if he was chewing gum - otherwise wonderful, and I was
relieved at the excellent casting of the four children

Customer Rating:

Summary: Very Good Translation!
Comment: Not being familiar with the director of this film, and imagining how hard a live action film
translation of the book would work out, I was very skeptical. But my love of the books crossed over
into my great respect and admiration for the film. Plus it's just darn entertaining. Usually
enjoying movies with more adult themes, fantasy type films just don't really interest me. But having
read all of C.S Lewis's collection as a child, I was very curious about the film. Such wonderful
storytelling. Have now introduced my kids to Lewis's world. My favorite film of 2005.

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