The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe [2005]

Author C.S. Lewis'’ Narnia books are some of the most beloved young adult stories out there so it'’s truly sad to see Disney and their co-producers WaldenMedia taking tons of money and throwing it at the screen to see what sticks. Completely ignoring the first book in the series ("“The Magician's Nephew"”), The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, is an expensive movie that'’s packed to the hilt with top of the line special effects but never manages to “wow” us as a viewer and is sadly lacking in the strong characterizations of the book as virtually every character here doesn'’t make much of an impression (save for Georgie Henley as younger sister Lucy).

When London falls under attack from German bombers during World War II, siblings Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Lucy (Henley), and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) are shipped off to live in the far off countryside out of harm’s way of the attacks and end-up staying at the house of an eccentric professor. It'’s not the best place in the World for kids and they soon find themselves growing bored -– of course the grumpy housekeeper telling them not to touch anything doesn'’t help.

During a game of hide and seek, Lucy uncovers a tall, beautiful wooden wardrobe in one of the house'’s many rooms. Pulling off the sheet covering it, in order to hide, Lucy climbs into the wardrobe, only to come out on the other side in the fantasy world of Narnia. While there she meets a nervous faun called Mr. Tumnus (James McAvory) who befriends her and tells her about Narnia being under siege from the evil white witch (Tilda Swinton).

Stumbling back home, Lucy tells the rest of the children about the magical land and they, of course, don'’t believe her. But upon them all hiding in the wardrobe from the housekeeper they all find themselves transported to Narnia and set out on a quest filled with much adventure, action, and legend as they have to try and defeat the white witch under the guidance of apparent '“savior'” Aslan (a introspective lion with a long flowing mane and cool demeanor, voiced by Liam Neeson).

Animator Andrew Adamson (he co-directed both Shrek movies) makes the jump to live action and it'’s a good thing he has a lot of CGI effects to work with, as he doesn'’t really handle his actors that well. Swinton is decent as the villainess and Henley brings her character a great wide-eyed wonderment, but the rest of the human cast are merely '“there'”. Moseley'’s Peter is the biggest wimp to be considered the main “hero” of a movie ever (he gets knighted after one of the white witch's vicious wolves just happens to jump into the sword he'’s holding) and the other two kids are as bland as they come.

Some people will absolutely love what'’s on display here, and it'’s easy to see how since they'’ve packed as much fantastical stuff as they can into the movie, but for those of us with fond memories of Lewis'’ book and those of us not as accepting of overused CGI effects this just leaves you with a ho-hum feeling. While the end battle sequence offers a few mild thrills, the movie could have actually benefited from less outright action and a bit more story =- it'’s hard to get an impression of the world of Narnia or the characters when a constant stream of effects are being tossed at us.

There's already a planned sequel in the works, and hopefully it will capture some of the magic missing from this entry - and as for the ruckus being made about the religious themes buried in the movie, get over it. It'’s there, but never once is it intrusive enough to make you forget you'’re watching an overblown fantasy film.

2 out of 4

Directed by Andrew Adamson. Written by Adamson, Ann Peacock, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely. 140 minutes. PG