Chronicles of Narnia

[Ciarin]

I saw it saturday morning. I liked it a lot. I'd even pay to see it again. Not as epic as LOTR, but no worse than Harry Potter. The CGI is welldone, I particularly like their take on the griffins. The centaurs remind me of the ones from Hercules and Xena back in the day.

I haven't read the book in forever, so I can't remember how well it does with the book. I recently saw the BBC version of Lion Witch and the Wardrobe and they were almost exactly a like. Minor differences.

One thing that made me a little annoyed was they didn't use real turkish delight. They used some kind of powdered fruit pastry.

Tilda Swinton did an excellent job as the snow queen. She reminded me of Boudica with her army. She has a powerful voice and demeanor. Her hair is AWESOME(dreadlocks). And the guy who did the voice of the beaver sounded cool. Great british accent. Best line "I'm not going to smell it if that's what you want" HAHAHA

Battle scene, not too long to be "overkill" (pun not intended), but was excellent. Not too gory or graphic, for the kids I guess.

Also, I hadn't realized Liam Neeson was doing the voice of Aslen, hehe. I was pleasently surprised. He did an awesome job.

Also, the kid playing Peter, the eldest brother, reminds me of HRH Prince William.

[Lirren]

We were supposed to go see this yesterday, but my sister got called in on an emergency, so we're having to wait until at least next weekend.

Ciarin, do you think the violence is too much for a 5 year old? One of our reviewers said he thought that the battle scenes and [spoiler:d3f5a44ca7]the scene of Aslan's death[/spoiler:d3f5a44ca7] were too intense for young children. My munchkin plays WoW and didn't have any problem with the LotR movies at home or the 3rd Harry Potter movie in the theater, just for comparison.

[Ciarin]

If there's no problem with LOTR then there'll be no problem with narnia, but:

[spoiler:d3f9eec33e]even though the kill wasn't gory, just a stab (I couldn't really see which part was stabbed), it takes a few scenes before Aslan comes back. In the old BBC movie, Aslan comes back in the same scene. This one makes you wait.[/spoiler:d3f9eec33e]

[Mondayn]

I'm really biased when it comes to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, mainly because it was the first book ever read to me and started my whole passion for fantasy. I loved this movie, everything was either, well substittuded or right on target with the story. The acting was superb and the CGI was just as good. Disney did an excellent job with making it PG for the kids, since this is after all a childs story. The music is everything I imagined should go along with the story as well, it's safe and fun for the whole family and something everyone should enjoy, I say.

[Pojodan]

Aside from a few minor qualms
All scenes involving the beaver are either shortened or altered, the walk with Aslan and the two girls is too short and they watch him get killed, unlike in the book, and a fair ammount of overacting on the part of the children
It's a wonderfully beautiful and spiritual movie well made and amazingly animated. I just looooove how lush and realistic the fur of the animals such as Aslan's mane are.

A definate must-see, though read the book first!

[MIKECLAN]

I went and saw it over the weekend. Now i know its been easily 15 years since I last read this book/series. But am I wrong in the feeling I got that they kinda skipped over a lot that led up to the Aslan scene & battle?

[Gnomish]

oh i remember the BBC version.. it was the reason why a friend of mine called me Lucy for a brief period.

my little sister's class is watching it now, they just read Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe

i wish my gramma hadnt given my Narnia books away :(

[Kaylen]

I thought it was good, but a number of things mostly left me confused.

At the start of the final battle, the centaur pledges he'll fight to the death and etc. for Peter. This is their second time talking to each other. Also, Santa Claus randomly showing up with useful, plot-centric items? It's been awhile since I've read the books so maybe I'm complaining about the writing there.

There seemed, on the whole, to be very little character development. I got the vague impression that I should've been feeling for these people, but they barely seemed to be people at all.

On another note, I can't seem to find Maugrim's credit anywhere on IMDB. Does anyone know who did his voice?

[Edward]

I was disappointed. The previews on TV showed it as some action packed thrilling story, but the real thing was much different. It was way too much kid oriented for me. That killed the whole thing for me, too kiddy. Good for someone 9-12 though I guess.

[Tenolein]

Loved it.

Great spiritual feeling to it too.

[boghira]

On another note, I can't seem to find Maugrim's credit anywhere on IMDB. Does anyone know who did his voice?

He was voiced by Michael Madsen

[Lirren]

I just got back and I absolutely adored this movie. I think the little boy they got to play Edmund was just perfect. I only had one tiny little quibble, and it was VERY tiny.

[spoiler:2c86aea03b]At the end of the movie when Lucy asks the professor if she'll ever get back to Narnia, in the book he says "I would imagine so. After all, once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia." And I wish he'd said that in the movie.[/spoiler:2c86aea03b]

The effects for Aslan were awesome. You'd honestly believe that was a real lion. I was really very impressed, and quite happy with the movie. I can't wait, now, until they make the next one.

[Erling E.]

I saw this two days ago. Decided I wanted to be a super uncle, and I took four of my nephews to the cinema to see it. While they obviously enjoyed it and couldn't stop talking about it in the car going back home, I really didn't like it at all. I havn't read this particular Narnia book (I have read a later one, though), but the story just seemed too simple and... cheesy. The development of the story was so horribly predictable, the CGI effects were too simple (yes, Aslan looked good, but other than that I wasn't very impressed), Tilda's (the witch) acting was laughable (and she's usually pretty good), and I could just smell half an hour in advance what was going to happen.

The story also seemed rush. It was just this journey towards the battle, really. And the battle was not impressive at all, it was like the director had problems figuring out how to make a battle scene feel fresh and new (because, let's face it, it has been done too many times before in movies lately). So, overall, I didn't like this movie. I had high expectations, though. I give it three/four out of ten.

[Whytewulf]

I really enjoyed the movie and think it held true to the books.

Some folks who thought it seemed short or rushed, well actually it was that way in the books. This is actually the 2nd book in the series, but I am nto sure the 1st book would make a great movie. I also don't think this is the best book, if they make the whole series (this one is making good money, so I sense we shall see at least 1 or 2 more) look for the best movie to be in the middle (ALA LOTR and STAR WARS IMHO). The characters were drawn out pretty good, Peter to me looks like Heath Ledger. And this was supposed to be a PG movie and for the younger crowd, but I thought was enjoyable for all ages. an 8 out of 10 from the Wulf

[Kallysti]

I liked it too. The books were meant for children, so things are explained simply and sometimes quickly. I think it held true to the book, too.

And fyi, I got in trouble on another mb for saying this was the "second book"... apparantly there are two ways to read them: chronologically storywise and chronologically the way Lewis wrote them (like you, Whytewulf, I read them that first way). But it puts them in two quite different orders and makes this one the first. Do a search for it online, there's actually a nice bit of (generally friendly) debate on the matter :)

[Cougarshand]

Aha!! Someone who knows, Kallysti!!! I read them the way C.S. Lewis wrote them, so this is the first book to me.

I mean, technically...if you wanted to get chronological about the whole thing, you'd have to stop this movie right before the ending, insert "The Horse and His Boy", and then do the L.W.&W. ending.

[Kallysti]

LOL, I only learned about it a few months ago :) But I guess the originals were done in the order they were written and the "story chronology" order wasn't done until later. I say enjoy in whatever order you like, though. And the next time I read them I'll do it in the written order, just to see how it is ;)

[Lirren]

I originally read them in the order he wrote them. I remember when I got a boxed set for my step-father, I was shocked to see that they had The Magician's Nephew listed as the first book. I think if I had read that one first, I would never have read the rest.

My personal favorite is Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love Reepicheep.

[Cougarshand]

The thing is, he references the earlier books in his later writings. If you didn't read them in the order he wrote them, you'd have no idea what he was talking about.

And Lirren, 'Voyage' was my second favorite. 'The Horse and His Boy' was my first...I always wanted to be Shasta.

(and yes, Reepicheep is pretty frickin' cool)

[Trumble]

I went to some drama camp when I was a kid and I was Peter in the Musical version. It's also one of my 1st books that got me into this stuff as a kid (Narnia+Hobbit+Redwall=lifelong appreciation of fantasy.)

I still havent had a chance to see it, I realy hope I get a chance to catch it on the big screen.

[Tathaur]

I just saw it and didn't like it. I didn't mind the cheesy, very predictable plot, becouse I knew it was based on a children's book, but..

It wasn't bad, it was good entertainment, but it seemed to me that the only actors capable of actually, well, acting, besides the CGI characters were Mr.Tumnus, The proffesor (who only appears in two scenes), and Lucy.

The White Witch's acting was laughable. Both the human boys could'nt act to save their lives, same with the older girl. I really liked the special effects though - all the nonhuman creatures were awesome.

[Zarithar]

Two thumbs up. My dissapointments were very minor ones. I think that Aslan's character could have done with a bit more screen time and development, and although alot was expanded upon (more detailed than the book), there were a couple of scenes from the book which were inexplicably shortened. I don't want to spoil anything, but those who read and were fans of the book probably know what I am referring to. Oreius, the centaur general... was awesome!