The
Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe (2005)
Who's
In It: Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Everett Who
Directed It: Andrew Adamson
Year of release: 2005
The
Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe (2005) Movie Review Reviewed
by: The Boneman, Zboneman.com
The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe certainly doesn’t
lend itself well to a tidy and short review. With it’s Lord of the Rings
inspired CGI to it’s author’s religious symbolism, as well as a big
robust metaphor about children forced to take a giant leap into adulthood - it’s
really hard to know where to start.
Taking
it a bite at a time, we begin in World War II ravaged London as the German bombers
crowd the night-time sky. We meet our family of heroes and heroines when, along
with their mother they scramble into a makeshift shelter as bombs explode all
around. As a bit of foreshadowing the youngest brother Edmund (Skandar “a
good name for a character in Narnia” Keynes) cuts and runs from the shelter
to retrieve a beloved photograph of their father from the house - and in the process,
nearly gets his brother killed trying to retrieve him. In the next scene the children
are packed off aboard a train along with hundreds of others - in order to take
them out of harms way.
The
Pevensie children - Peter the more sober and responsible older brother (William
Moseley) bears a resemblance to a young Brad Pitt; Susan a few years his junior
(Anna Poppelwell); Edmund the rebel; and the precocious young Lucy (Georgie Henley)
who steals the film outright - are sent to stay with a well-to-do relative. Miles
from the city, in a palatial country estate, the children are placed in the charge
of a retired professor played by the always terrific Jim Broadbent. Sadly, he’s
given precious little screen time, but, as expected, makes the most of it, and
shines as a mysterious recluse who’s painted by his housekeeper as a holy
tyrant, but who turns out to be a cuddly teddy bear and perhaps the most child-like
of the lot.
After
using her endearingly enormous eyes to lobby her siblings into a game of hide
and seek, young Lucy finds herself in an empty room occupied only by the titular
wardrobe - a monstrous piece of furniture big enough for the Minnesota Vikings
to hide in. Once inside Lucy begins to explore its expanse and before her brother
can count to twenty she has tumbled out the back of it into the snow-covered forest
of Narnia. After wandering a short ways she comes upon a gas street-lamp, and
as she inspects the curious landmark she hears the approach of footsteps. In the
film’s first glimpse into the magic to come, the footsteps belong to a hapless
faun returning home with groceries and parcels. Lucy and the mythical creature
strike up a friendship and after some tea and pan-flute symphony, we get a quick
lesson - Narnia 101.
It
seems that Narnia is in the grip of a hundred year winter, courtesy of the White
Witch (an enthralling Tilda Swinton) who is the self-proclaimed Queen of the Land
and has cast a spell on it’s inhabitants who live in a regime of fear. It
has also been prophesied that four human beings (the sons of Adam and the daughters
of Eve) will herald the return of the King. A great Lion who will loose the bonds
that enslave the kingdom and return Narnia to it’s true paradisical nature.
Soon all of the children will come to Narnia, but not before the White Witch has
beguiled young Edmund into delivering his family to her. In order to stop the
prophesy and secure her reign she conspires to murder the children before they
can set these events in motion.
However,
before the evil Queen can carry out her designs a married couple who happen to
be talking beavers, warn them and protect them until they can be delivered into
the hands of Azlan the Lion King who has already returned in preparation for the
overthrow of the Witches tyrannical reign. Edmund, however, heeds the call of
the seductress Witch and wanders off into her hands - spellbound by the promise
of a throne and all the fancy pastries he can eat. Edmund gets a taste of the
Witches true nature as he is cast into a dungeon along with the traitorous faun
who failed to inform her of the arrival of the humans. The other three children
must contend with a long and treacherous journey where they are pursued by the
Witch’s wolfen henchmen and the Witch herself. They even meet Santa Claus
(or Father Christmas) according to which side of the pond your on. Santa bestows
the gift of weaponry upon the kids - and sends them on their way with happy Holiday
wishes. As absurd as this all sounds, it actually works quite effectively and
even though the film suffers from pacing problems, you’re not likely to find
yourself bored and in the magical land of Narnia you never know whom or what might
show up and start talking to you.
Once
they have journeyed to where the opposition forces are gathering around Azlan
- they are made fully aware that they are expected to play pivotal foreordained
roles in the battle for control of Narnia, but even after meeting the impressive
Azlan they express an interest only in recapturing their brother and returning
to the world on the other side of the wardrobe. The Witch has taken her captive
human with her in her pursuit of the others, only traveling with a small band
of her mutant minions. Hence a rescue party of Azlanians succeeds easily in snatching
Edmund from her grasp. After a happy reunion, however the witch marches right
into the enemies camp and requests an audience with Azlan. Citing the law of the
“Deep Magic” that governs Narnia, she demands that Edmund be returned
to her custody and sacrificed in accordance with these long-standing laws. Azlan
strikes a deal with her and she leaves camp riding a throne borne by four Cyclops.
Whereupon the children make the decision to stay with Azlan and fulfill their
destiny.
There
won’t be soul who sees this film who will not notice that the creatures who
populate the Witch’s minions are dead ringers for the evil creatures in the
Lord of the Ring - they’re the most motley collection of hob-goblins, freaks
and mutants this side of Mordor. Which naturally begs the question as to which
books appeared first. The answer to this isn’t so cut and dried as the Hobbit
was written before the Chronicles of Narnia, but the other two books in the LOTR
trilogy were written after. The fact is that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were
good friends and both belonged to an informal group of writers and scholars known
as “the Inklings.” Lewis wrote his books of fanciful fantasy primarily
for children, and the film is a notch more youngster-friendly than the LOTR films.
Still I would recommend that parents exercise caution with younger children, there
are a handful of “jump out of your seat” scares in Narnia, as well as
a host of very spooky characters - not to mention a good bit of intense battle
scene violence.
All
of which makes the film much more adult-friendly - I would dare say that anyone
who enjoyed the LOTR films will also enjoy this film, but it won’t receive
the critical straight A’s that Peter Jackson’s films received. Why?
Mostly it has to do with the characters in the Lord of the Rings being better
developed and I dare say more interesting, which is an element that seems a bit
absent from the Chronicles of Narnia. Still a point that I made to Adam as we
watched the film, is that one of the great blessings that will come from Peter
Jackson’s amazing success with LOTR, is that it will make it possible for
other such books to be given the full Hollywood treatment, complete with staggering
budgets and the special effects and CGI wizardry that will allow the characters
from books such as the Chronicles of Narnia to leap off the page in a way that
does justice to the imagination of their authors. As a story teller most scholars
of such literature give the nod to Lewis over Tolkien, but the point here is that
movie goers will now have the pleasure of seeing books such as these painted on
the big screen as vividly as they could imagine them.
C.S.
Lewis wrote his books as more of a hobby than a serious occupation and is better
known in academic circles as celebrated historian and educator and even more so
as one of the more popular theologians of the 20th century. He wrote three texts
on religion and these themes spilled over into his children’s books. In large
part, The Chronicles of Narnia is underscored with Christian allegory and I should
say that my discussion of this will probably end up being a bit of a spoiler,
so if you wish to see the film with all of it’s surprises in tact, you may
want to leave off here - that is if you haven’t already.
First
of all the religious subtext does nothing to make the film any less breathtaking
and obviously children and a good percentage of their parents probably won’t
even notice all this, but it bears discussion as it was Lewis’ intention
that the story serve as metaphor for more profound issues. As I mentioned the
children’s arrival in Narnia had long since been a matter of prophesy, heralding
the arrival of a King who would restore the true nature of the land and “save”
it’s inhabitants from the bonds of enslavement. It’s not hard to see
the parallels here between Azlan and the prophesied arrival of Christ. Similarly
Azlan willingly offers himself as a sacrifice to save the life of Edmund, whose
character obviously represents not only Judas Iscariot, but the weakness and fallibility
of mankind. Much like Christ, Azlan delivers himself into the hands of his enemy
of his own volition, in order that he might be sacrificed to “save”
Edmund as well as his followers. He is bound, tormented, shorn and then killed
on a sacrificial altar, but is resurrected in order to protect his people from
death. He also goes to the Witches castle and brings back to life hundreds of
his people whom the Witch had killed by turning them to stone and ice.
As
far as the narrative of the film, this mass resurrection serves to create an army
that will attack the Witches forces from behind, just as it looks like they are
on the cusp of victory. Earlier I mentioned the scene where the Witch rides into
Azlan’s camp, making her demands based upon law. An easy parallel here can
be drawn to the Roman army who had no fear of riding among the Jews in the days
that preceded the crucifixion and it is pretty obvious that Azlan’s followers
represent the Jews. Other more temporal metaphors abound in this film. I would
dare say that Lewis was also using the Witch to represent Hitler and Azlan to
mirror Churchill, or perhaps FDR or both. Also an overriding theme in the story
is the Pevensie children who are forced to grow up in a hurry in order to meet
the challenges of their destiny. All of which is a handy metaphor for children
the world over who lose the innocence of childhood as a result of the grim realities
of war.
Though
the allegories are at times drawn with a bit of a heavy hand, the movie doesn’t
really suffer that much as a result and it adds an intellectual element for the
grown ups to discuss afterward. All in all the Chronicles of Narnia is an impressive
film - the battle sequence is crisp and imaginative (though a bit drawn out and
implausible at times) the CGI characters (particularly Azlan) are seamlessly wondrous
creations and though the themes of good Vs evil as well as the fiendish mutants
that populate the Witches ranks may strike some as blatant theft from LOTR, I
don’t think too many movie goers are going to mind - however obvious it may
be. Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) makes his live action debut with this most
challenging project, and considering he also co-wrote the screenplay - a tip of
the hat is due. The film offers plenty of breathtaking moments, but all the CGI
in the world can’t hold a candle to the look of absolute wonder that spreads
over the face of Lucy as she gets her first glimpse of this most marvelous world.
The look in her eyes at that first encounter is truly what the film is all about
and in that respect it is a real treat.
