The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

[Werwolf]

Well, yes i have the choice. But the film is advertised as a big fantasy epic and not as a christian analogy what it actually is. Disney is only having this church advertisment in the USA. I only inform myself.

[dvdjunkie]

Just got back from the opening day showing of "Narnia" and I have to go along with the others. WOW!!!!

This movie has all the makings of an Academy Award dominating film. The photography, the music, the story, and the acting - all are superb and probably the best that I have seen this past half of the year.

I am really excited about this movie and will probably go back in the next couple of days and see it again. In fact, I think I will probably see this film two or three more times before it leaves the big-screen. It definitely is at the top of my "Must Have" list on DVD.

Make it a special day and go see this movie as soon as you can. It is so sweeping in scope, and the 2 1/2 hours fly by like a few minutes.

I will go out on a limb and give this film my first FIVE STARS of the year.

Look out Oscar, here comes "The Chronicles of Narnia" and there will be a bunch of nominations to be sure for this great movie.

[PixarFan]

I can't see the movie until tomorrow...I wish I could see it today, but, oh, well.

As for the Christian elements, from my understanding, nothing is "shoved down your throat." For a Christian, such as myself, the comparison between Aslan and Jesus will be obvious. But because of the whole fantasy theme, for someone who isn't a Christian and doesn't have a big knowledge of the Christian faith, it will just be "part of the fantasy." Lots of churches are advertising this movie because of the message that can be taken from it. But never during the story is it said "This is Christian," it just tells a story that reflects what Christians believe. By the way, there are Christian elements in Lord of the Rings, too, although maybe a bit more subtle. Both Tolkien and Lewis were Christians, and although Lewis took the more direct allegorical approach, I don't think it will be overly noticeable if you don't want it to be. But then, what do I know? I still haven't seen it!

I, however, along with many others, am glad they kept those elements in, and I'm very excited to go see this tomorrow!

[DaveWadding]

I can't see the movie until tomorrow...I wish I could see it today, but, oh, well.

As for the Christian elements, from my understanding, nothing is "shoved down your throat." For a Christian, such as myself, the comparison between Aslan and Jesus will be obvious. But because of the whole fantasy theme, for someone who isn't a Christian and doesn't have a big knowledge of the Christian faith, it will just be "part of the fantasy." Lots of churches are advertising this movie because of the message that can be taken from it. But never during the story is it said "This is Christian," it just tells a story that reflects what Christians believe. By the way, there are Christian elements in Lord of the Rings, too, although maybe a bit more subtle. Both Tolkien and Lewis were Christians, and although Lewis took the more direct allegorical approach, I don't think it will be overly noticeable if you don't want it to be. But then, what do I know? I still haven't seen it!

I, however, along with many others, am glad they kept those elements in, and I'm very excited to go see this tomorrow!

You might not have seen the movie, but you're spot on.

[DDMAN26]

Here's the an exerpt from the review on my blog:

Of the four kids I thought Susan came off the worst. She didn't engage me like the other kids especially Lucy. Some of the effects and cgi didn't work. I thought like the Fox wasn't very realistic. And there were parts of the waterfall scene that came across as fake looking. Liam Neeson projects the right amount of gravitas to Aslan. My only problem is that he can play characters like in his sleep. It's a solid vocal performance, but after Kingdom of Heaven, the Phantom Menace and Batman Begins, I hope he can get away from the "wise mentor" parts he's been getting lately. And darn it I want more Minotaurs, those guys rocked.


As for what worked, nearly everything else. Lucy meeting Tumnus. The beavers. The wolves who represented the Witch's . The Minotaurs charging into battle. Tilda Swinton is awesome as the White Witch. In fact I can't picture anyone else in the role.

One thing if you're not familiar with the books don't go into this expecting Lord of the Rings. It was and never will be Lord of the Rings. But it is a terrfic film, well worth the wait and I think Disney and Walden Media should take a bow.
I want more Minotaurs!!!!!

Final grade A-

[TM2-Megatron]

Can I ask a honest question? I heard that this movie was very christian. I'm interested in watching it but getting this christian morality forced down my throat is certainly something i don't want to spend my money on, so anyone can tell me how christian it really is?

Of course there are elements of Christianity to the movie; as religion was a fairly important aspect of the author's life. As was already said, humans are called "Sons of Adam" and "Daughters of Eve", which is pretty blatant. It also features Father Christmas (not the generic Santa Claus). And there's always the Aslan/Jesus parallel.

However, as an atheist, I can say that these things don't detract from the movie (or books) at all. I still enjoy the stories as much now as I did when I was a child. Neither the book, nor the movie are meant as recruitment engines for Christianity. C.S. Lewis did write them so that Christian children could easily relate, however you don't need to be Christian to do so. My parents read the books to me before I could read them myself, and I turned out an atheist, lol.

And quite honestly, "Christian morality" as you call it is, in its basic form, the same morality that most people hold. It sounds as if you're allowing the minority of zealots produced by America's brand of Christianity to give you a bad impression of the entire religion. Every religion has nuts (especially the big 3 monotheistic ones); the only reason you notice the Christian ones more than any of the others (who are equally offensive) is because America just has THAT many more Christians (apparently around 80% of your population). However, this small group of weirdos shouldn't be anything but ignored by the rest of us, and certainly not be used as an excuse to condemn an entire religion, or a movie that happens to contain allegories of that religion.

[memnv]

Saw the movie today, starts out slow but gets better as it goes on. I would rate it 5 out of 5.

[Disneykid]

Being a fan of the book, I knew I was going to love it; I just didn't know I'd love it THIS much. Not only is it easily my favorite Disney live-action film, but I think it's actually better than the book itself. The novel is very simplistic, and the film takes that simplistic plot and beefs it up, making it feel very robust. The characters were actually developed more, and the book scenes that were somewhat glossed over are expanded to their full potential here. I find it interesting that Andrew Adamson said this film is based more on his memories of the novel than on the novel itself because they stuck pretty dang close to the thing while still being creative. SPOILER: Aslan's death was very powerful. As one review I read said, the way the scene's staged is eerily similar to The Passion. Even the score during that scene is reminiscent of it. All of the children were excellent, with Lucy being the best of the four (her many crying scenes in particular were excellent). The CGI, for the most part, was excellent. Some of the creatures looked a little too bright and cartoony but were still better than half of the CGI creatures in the first Harry Potter film. This is probably because most of the CGI budget went on Aslan, and it shows. The two things I kept staring at whenever Aslan was in the frame were his eyes and the hair of his mane. They somehow miraculously pulled off realistic lion eyes without making them too distant to show human emotions. The way his hair reflected shadows and was always moving even with the lightest breeze was almost mezmorizing. Tilda Swinton took the White Witch in a totally different direction than what I imagined, but I mean that in a good way. It's ironic because Ralph Fiennes played Voldemort in the latest Harry Potter film more energetic than I expected while still making it work brilliant. Meanwhile, Tilda played the White Witch in Narnia quieter and more serene than I expected while also making it work. The violence in this film surprised me. It's never really graphic, but I don't think I've ever seen a film push its PG rating this much. I'd say it's only a notch or two below the level of violence shown in Lord of the Rings. Speaking of which, this film happily avoided any comparisons and found its own identity. It's more relaxed than Harry Potter and more optimistic than Lord of the Rings. With all of this gushing, do I have any qualms? Only one: The post-battle stuff felt rushed. I've read that the coronation scene was a lot longer (there are two shots from this scene in the trailers that don't appear in the final film). The rest of the film moved at a very good pace thanks to the fact that the book is slim enough for them to include everything while still adding things. Without ending credits, Narnia runs two hours and ten minutes, but it didn't feel like it at all. I've seen movies that were an hour and a half and felt so much longer. Now, enough of my rambling. If you haven't seen it, go now. If you have, see it again. The magic of Disney is back in style.

[Kenai]

I just saw this with some friends and a couple of other people last night. OMG, I loved it, loved it, loved it, LOVED IT!

I agree with Disneykid's description of how it's more relaxed than Harry Potter and more optimistic then LoTR. I might've liked this movie a little more than both of these films combined (and I'm a HP fan).

You kind of wanted to hug little Lucy during some points in the film. And poor Mr. Tumnus. But the highlight for me was seeing Aslan on screen. Man, the animators made him look SO majestic and huge.

This movie is probably the best of the year, IMO. It beats all the summers blockbusters combined. The Disney magic is starting to flow back and this movie proves it.

[Disney Princess Ariellen]

I have a confession to make...I've never read the Chronicles of Narnia. I tried making a point to read them while at school last year, but my school year was so overwhelminglyl busy, I simply didn't get the chance. I was familiar with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe story from the not-too-great animated version that used to air on Disney Channel, which would always lose my interest in the middle because it wasn't a strong movie, but the storyline itself was intriguing.

Anyway, I saw the new movie last night, and add me to the list of enthusiastic reviewers. It was a very full movie theatre; not quite sold out, but crowded nonetheless. Three of the showings that I know of sold out...which I think is rather impressive since I saw it at AMC Pleasure Island...so people were taking their vacation time to see it, and that's cool.

Very well done; I don't want to say too much since I can't compare it to the book, and I don't want to give away spoilers.

One more note, though...the audience was fantastic. They laughed, many cried, there was applause at the end and in a few moments throughout, and it was great. (It was also awesome that when the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest trailer started, before they showed any film footage and all you heard was young Elizabeth singing "Yo ho...yo ho...," everyone went NUTS. And then they cheered and applauded AGAIN at the end of the trailer when the screen reads "Captain Jack is back...July 7")

[DDMAN26]

The early box office reports are in. From Box Office Guru

"The end-of-year box office fireworks began on Friday with the launch of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which grossed an estimated $23.4M in its first day of release. The big-budget Disney adventure delivered the third largest opening day gross of the year after the $50M of Star Wars Episode III in May and the $39.8M of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last month. If the estimate holds, it will rank as the biggest opening day ever for Disney. For the whole weekend, Narnia might find itself in the $65-70M range."

[Hogi Bear]

(It was also awesome that when the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest trailer started, before they showed any film footage and all you heard was young Elizabeth singing "Yo ho...yo ho...," everyone went NUTS. And then they cheered and applauded AGAIN at the end of the trailer when the screen reads "Captain Jack is back...July 7")

In the cinema I seen it in they had the Shaggy Dog trailer instead, with Tim Allen taking the Dogs body and then when returning having dog like behavour (chasing cats, Drinking like a dog, et cetera), but it looks like the underlining story is about Tim's character (the Father) getting to really know his family and what they think of him, so he can get to know them better. I don't know if there's a quicktime trailer on the net for it, I'll have to look into it. That was basically the only thing before the movie started other than the Buena Vista International banner.

[Disney Princess Ariellen]

In the cinema I seen it in they had the Shaggy Dog trailer instead, with Tim Allen taking the Dogs body and then when returning having dog like behavour (chasing cats, Drinking like a dog, et cetera), but it looks like the underlining story is about Tim's character (the Father) getting to really know his family and what they think of him, so he can get to know them better. I don't know if there's a quicktime trailer on the net for it, I'll have to look into it. That was basically the only thing before the movie started other than the Buena Vista International banner.

I saw that trailer with Harry Potter and Chicken Little. I was disappointed; it doesn't look as good as the original Shaggy Dog, which I love. But I could be proved wrong when the new one comes out, so we'll see...

[anger is pointless]

ya know i think they like it lol and i totally agree with you guys this movie is great i bet it wins the best picture of the year award

i didnt even know the lion was fake cause he looks so real i thought he was a real lion with cgi eyes and mouth but my friend told me after the movie that he was cgi and i was like WHAT no way

i love the beavers they were really funny

im definetly gonna buy this movie when it comes to dvd my friend said shes gonna buy it too

spoiler sort of

dont let your gaurd down while your watching the scene where the girls are playing in the water cause your in for a surprise lol

[I am the Doctor]

An excellent adaptation, and a great start, to the Chronicles of Narnia series! After Lord of the Rings, Narnia has been the one fantasy series that I've wanted to see done right by movies. And Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe was done very well indeed!

Some may worry about the Christian symbolism, but this aspect isn't crammed down your throat. You can enjoy LWW as a rousing adventure, if you choose.

One note, really young children might find the movie too intense. LWW really pushes the PG rating, one might argue that it should have been rated PG-13. For kids who've seen the Harry Potter films, or read the Narnia books, they should have no problems and take everything in stride.

3 1/2 stars out of four!

[The Little Merman]

Narnia, was, in a word, perfection. The first film I have given a 10 (perfect score) to. Wonderful, simply wonderful. Disney did a phenomenal job with my favorite book of all time, and I hope they do just as well on the rest of the series.

Full review: Ebert Jr. (http://ebertjr.diaryland.com)

*tlm

[Kenai]

I have a question, where did they do the animating for all the CGI characters? Was it done at Disney studios or where? And I'll say again, they did a fantastic job with them.

[2099net]

I have a question, where did they do the animating for all the CGI characters? Was it done at Disney studios or where? And I'll say again, they did a fantastic job with them.

No Disney shut down The Secret Lab. The CGI is done by WETA Digital (Peter Jackson's company).

[Kenai]

I have a question, where did they do the animating for all the CGI characters? Was it done at Disney studios or where? And I'll say again, they did a fantastic job with them.

No Disney shut down The Secret Lab. The CGI is done by WETA Digital (Peter Jackson's company).

Ah, thanks. So the same people who did all the CGI for Lord of the Rings also created the CGI characters for this movie as well? Interesting. Although I should've at least had a clue, since the characters did look similar to the ones in LoTR.

[ichabod]

Well weekend estimates are in and Narnia took $67,064,000 according to Box office Mojo.

as the French say C'est un success! ( well sort of )