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

One of the biggest things I had on my mind walking into Chronicles of Narnia, was how it would hold up to the Academy Award winning adaptations of the Lord of the Rings novels. Certainly Peter Jackson and his crew raised the bar insanely high, and would make it very difficult for Narnia to match, but could it even hold court against such a cinematic powerhouse? In short, no it can't. While the film is a solid, respectable, action adventure flick, it lacks everything that would make the movie great that Lord of the Rings had. Visually the film is great, but it lacked the scope and size that dropped my jaw with Lord of the Rings, and yes even the latest two Harry Potter flicks. In epics like this, visuals are a cornerstone to the success, so one of the big positives Narnia has going for it is it's art design, cinematography, costuming, and etc that contributes to an extremelly pleasurable movie to the eye. But the biggest thing that made Lord of the Rings successful was the script and direction, and how much passion and understanding the filmmakers had for the source material. They understood every facet, every symbology, every theme, the richness of the characters, the story, the background, and the world the movie existed in. And that is why it was so successful, and this is where Narnia goes astray. Andrew Adamson, although a very competent director, doesn't seem to have the natural talent and passion for the project that Jackson had for Lord of the Rings. Adamson and the other writers adequately craft a screenplay for the film, but it doesn't add to anything, and merely serves as a vessel for the pretty visuals. One big thing the filmmakers miss is the deep and fascinating Christian symbolism in the Narnia novels, and especially the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I won't go into all of it, and encourage the reader to check out C. S. Lewis' brilliant novels. But needless to say they either didn't understand or chose not to address it, and the movie suffers due to the lack of depth. Largely from the shallow screenplay. However getting back to the good things in Narnia, the choice to use an all British cast is a wise one, it wasn't in Harry Potter, but it works out very well here. The children in the main roles are solid, especially Lucy (Georgie Henley) whos is absolutely adorable, and does an astonishingly great job considering her age and difficult of her role. The supporting cast is good, including a personal favourite of mine from the indi-film circuit, Tilda Swinton who plays the White Witch. Basically the movie is a decent and very watchable action adventure flick, great for the kids, but it lacks anything to make it special and seperate it from the crowd, Which is such a dire necessity in today's movie landscape.