One week from now The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will already be in theaters.  Prince Caspian, sequel to the 2005 fantasy film, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, follows the Pevensie children back to Narnia again to aid a young prince named Caspian to overthrow his evil King uncle Miraz. 

Before the premiere of Prince Caspian lets look back to 2005 at The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first in a series of films by Walt Disney Pictures. 

If you’ve been a regular reader to New Film Dimension you’ll know that Narnia wasn’t as popular with me as it was with other’s.  Narnia is a very good movie in some aspects but over all, I found it very lacking in many other part’s and in the end I wasn’t totally satisfied but I wasn’t disappointed either.  Casted with a young group of children standing along side experienced actors is William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy) starring as the leading core characters, the Pevensie children.  Along side the young stars, Liam Neeson (Aslan) James McAvoy (Tumnus) and Tilda Swinton (White Witch).  The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe taking place in the year 1940 during WW II, the Pevensie children set off on a adventure in the fantasy world of Narnia where they become Kings and Queens defending Narnia in a war against the White Witch Queen Jadis.

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The overall scope and landscape of The Chronicles of Narnia is probably the one of best things about this film, followed by make-up.  The fantasy world of Narnia is simply a beautiful creation in film-making.  Of course it’s not the best seen, but could possibly end up in the top ten of movie universes.  That is attributed to excellent CGI and background work by what ever company was used.  The make-up in Narnia was also very impressive.  Even though CGI was used for creature effects a lot of practical shots were used as well and that’s always a very refreshing thing to see.  However, during most action sequences CGI creature effects were used, even so it was all very well done indeed.  Most notably, Aslan the Lion, was done exceptionally well and what made it even better is that Aslan was voiced by Liam Neeson.

Tilda Swinton as Queen Jadis is a character that I actually enjoyed watching.  Swinton is a very good actress and that can be seen in several movies she’s done, although a little strange when she’s out of character.  That strangeness however was channelled into Jadis to become the White Witch and I thought it was convincing enough.  Liam Neeson as Aslan can best be described as… It’s Liam Neeson, so it’s great.  James McAvoy who is fast becoming an A-List actor, if he’s not already, was also very fine as Mr. Tumnus.  After first viewing this film, I thought that McAvoy wasn’t used enough but after a second viewing and so on, I began to see that he was used just enough and I thought it worked.  In short, all of the adult characters were very good in their roles and I found myself pleased by their performances.

The adult actors lead me to the young actors.  This is where I find some of my problems.  I have never been a big fan of child actor’s and that can sometimes ruin my experience with film watching.  Both of the older actors, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell, I can’t say that they were bad in their roles.  They actually weren’t that bad at all even though some of it seemed very dry at certain points, especially with Popplewell.  Sure, nobody is perfect but it still was enough to force the pacing of this film to slow down.  Both of the younger actor’s however, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley, I honestly found terrible.  I couldn’t stand watching them on the screen.  Every time they showed up they seemed to force their performance too much and too hard when it wasn’t necessary.  Sometimes, less emotion is better then more emotion, which is ironic because Popplewell needed more emotion when she had too little.  It’s difficult to be judgmental when it comes to young actor’s and actresses because I understand how inexperienced they are.  That being said, I believe with experience these young people will turn out to be excellent actor’s in the future and I only hope the best for them.  Still, in this film they weren’t very good and they annoyed the hell out of me.

The Chronicles of Narnia has a great story so I’m not even going to delve into that but what I will mention, the execution of this story could have been better in some parts.  The end battle sequence was very good but a lot before that could have been sped up or even lessened.  What that means is that the pacing to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe at some points made me want to fall asleep watching it…. that doesn’t happen to me often.

Overall, The Chronicles of Narnia isn’t a bad film at all, although I had issue’s with some of it.  I am very much looking forward to seeing Prince Caspian and from what I hear it does show improvement from the first film.  If I saw The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe today, I’d rate it a 7 out of 10.  So all in all, it was an alright movie that families would enjoy watching as long as they don’t notice some bad performances and they can get through some of the slow pacing.

-Phil