Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
PG
*** out of ****

I went and saw Chronicles of Narnia the other day, and yes, Aslan is a badass.

Exhibit A.

Moving on. ^_^ The first thing worth saying about this whole project is the fact that C. S. Lewis's writing is absolutely perfect for a movie adaptation. I read the book in two hours right before I went and saw the movie, and noted that the story was well told, but lacked the copious amount of detail that I normally associate with novels, fantasy novels in particular. This lack of detail makes it perfect for a movie. You can add some content, add plenty of dialog, and play with the visuals as much as you want, and not feel like the movie is unfaithful to the book.

The movie was also remarkably well cast, first and foremost being the actor they chose to do the voice acting for Aslan. Liam Neeson was absolutely perfect, calm, level, benevolent, yet with the absolute expectation that any orders will be instantly obeyed. Which makes sense, because Aslan is the god/jesus figure.

I also thought casting Tilda Swinton as the White Witch was great. ^_^ She was awesome, especially in the last battle scene when she's wearing Aslan's mane and riding a chariot pulled by massive polar bears. I'm not sure I like how they chose to costume her. I guess it fit, but everything before her outfit during the last battle I didn't care much for.

And Maugrim was AWESOME, by the way. ^_^

The kids were also well cast. I was especially impressed with the little girl who played Lucy. Most child actors are terrible, but she did very well. When I saw the previews I was afraid that she was going to annoy me-- she kinda looked annoying, but those fears were unfounded. She was fine.

All in all I very much enjoyed the movie (especially the battle at the end), but it left me feeling... nothing. It was amazing to see one of my favorite childhood stories on the big screen, but somehow I was completely unaffected by any emotion the movie tried to evoke. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was just the blatant christian overtones. When I read the books back when I was little it never even occured to me that it was christian, but now as a much older and much more militant atheist, I'm rebelling against something so religous. Or maybe the movie just wasn't that awesome. Who knows. ^_^