When Ethan reviewed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe recently I thought that maybe he had succumbed to an big ol' attack of hyperbole...But then I saw it today...
In a word.... wow!
It definitely claims a place beside all those other big fantasy movies that I love... or any movie that I love really.
The casting, especially of the children, was just spot on... although never before have I had impure thoughts about Mr Tumnus the faun... even with the ears and horns... or maybe because of them... Not to mention the blonde, amazingly jaw-lined and very fortunately 18yo, William Moseley as Peter.
As always I was a little, well, distracted isn't quite the right word, but it threw me a couple of times with the host of famous British stars providing the voices for the animated animals... Mr Beaver, Mrs Beaver, Fox and especially Aslan. Initially I wasn't sure Aslan had the right voice, but it grew on me over the course of the movie.
Tilda Swinton was at her scenery chewing best as the White Witch, although a special mention does have to be given to both her costumer and her hair designer, both of whom added so much to her character.
I haven't read the book in years (but will definitely have to dig it out and reread it now), but the story seemed to stay pretty faithful to what I do remember... at least the major plot points were there.... and some of the minor ones, including Edmund's love for Turkish Delight, which might go some way to explaining my liking for it.
The battle at the end is very impressive, even if there was a couple of moments I expected to see Legolas and Gimli pop up from behind a rock... if it's not the same exact location in New Zealand that parts of the Riddermark were filmed in, it's at least the same part of the country. But beautiful and impressive none-the-less.
And yes, I can see why comparisons are being made between those scenes and Lord of the Rings, especially given that it's the same production house that did both movies... the attention to detail in the armour and weapons give that away if nothing else.
The only thing I would recommend is that you DON'T see it with a cinema full of under 10's... the little tyke that ended up sitting next to me fell asleep (and snored) towards the end.... and it was only 3:00pm.
Definitely one for the DVD collection though!
yani's rating: 4 Sons of Adam out of 5
3 comments:
do you and jevyeddy have parallel lives? You both watched and posted about this on the same day
Well, it only came out here in Australia on Monday, and Tuesday is "cheap day" at the movies... it used to be "half price day" but now it's anywhere between $5 and $7 cheaper.
my favorite scene was santa claus. god, it almost made me believe again. I so wanted one of the reindeers to turn around and all you'd see was a shiny red nose. nothing would have to be said. EVERYONE would know, THAT'S RUDOLPH!
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