Entering a new world through an old wardrobe

My family watched the first instalment of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, on Christmas day. I’ve been waiting for this film since I’ve heard the news that they’re shooting the first book on C.S. Lewis’ famous children’s book series. I have not read the books then, but after reading the sixth Harry Potter, Half-Blood Prince, I bought the compiled version of the Chronicles of Narnia.

In C. S. Lewis’ timeless adventure, we’ll see how the four Pevensie siblings stumble upon the magical world of Narnia, where animals talk and winter never ends, through an old wardrobe in a country home of an old professor. They would then meet Aslan, the untamed lion, whom the White Witch fears and revered by Narnians.

This is not a Lord of the Rings movie, as what the viewer might expect after seeing the fast-paced trailer with sweeping landscapes and great battle scenes. The world of Narnia was created wonderfully by Weta Studios with the same craftsmanship they did in the Lord of the Rings movies. The monsters or creatures under the witch’s wing are so ugly and some are even scarier than the Orcs. This army, however, reminded me so such of the Uruk-hais of Saruman and Sauron’s minions. Shooting this film in New Zealand made the over-all look like a copy of Peter Jackson’s films, even the final battle scene between the White Witch and the supporters of Aslan rang too much of the grandeur of what we have already seen in the Two Towers and The Return of the King. I wouldn’t be surprised if I see Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli running through those rocks and meet Eomer and his army.

The moviemakers might have been aiming for the splendour of the Lord of Rings, but one problem got really in the way in terms of the story. Whereas, Peter Jackson tried to re-tell the story of Tolkien for cinema, this movie of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was like an illustrated copy of the book – the dialogues were exactly lifted and the characters; it followed the book religiously; the film adaptation didn’t add anything new to the story itself. The only thing that you won’t see in the book was the first part – the war scene and at the train station – after seeing that, I thought that this was going to be a different experience from reading the book, but I was completely wrong; from then on, it was like the entire book was the movie’s script.

I know that the book is short and mainly aimed for kids; but targeting this movie as a kid’s movie was a huge mistake. The fan-base of this series of books aren’t kids anymore (they were first published after the second world war!). Presenting this in movie form was supposed to introduce this old series to whole new set of readers (like me); but this film didn’t do it’s job right. With the whole world of Narnia already laid out in the seven books, the filmmakers could have further expounded on that. Being a kid’s book, there isn’t much of a character development and that’s plain dull if you watch it on film. Like what I have said in my previous post (after reading the first five books), the four kids in this story are a bit superficial and bland and this showed up in the movie as well; the characters weren’t given any depth at all, even the White Witch Jadis (Tilda Swinton) and Aslan the lion.

The girl Georgie Henley, who portrayed Lucy Pevensie, was fantastic and showed so much promise as an actor. The other scenes, however, have no such drama. Edmund (Skandar Keynes) was supposed to be a fantastic character, because he was the only one in there who has changed, but the viewers couldn’t feel it. The coronation of the two Daughters of Eve and the two Sons of Adam as kings and queens of Narnia were so bland and impersonal and reminded me of the ending scene on the Phantom Menace (Star Wars Episode I). This was supposed to be the summit of the film and the turning point for the entire series; King Peter (William Moseley) of Cair Paravel will forever be mentioned with the same reverence as Aslan himself, but you don’t feel that. Speaking of Peter, I think this young actor is hot. I don’t know what is it with me and young, pretty boys.

Not that I totally abhor this film adaptation, there are good things that needs pointing out, too. The visuals are stunning almost as the same levels as in Lord of the Rings; the animation of computer-generated characters was seamlessly done – amazing (I like the beavers very much and the humour added to them – they even have more depth than the human characters!). I also liked the foreshadowing of the hunt for the white stag when Lucy was having tea with Mr. Tumnus.

Is the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe a biblical allegory? If you’re a Christian and have not seen the allusions to Jesus Christ in this film, I don’t know which version of the Bible you have been reading. Just wait for the Magician’s Nephew (if they ever plan of filming that); it will smack you in the face.

I’ve compared this film to the Lord of the Rings a lot, but – oh, well – the books then were also compared so many times. The authors, Lewis and Tolkien were very good friends and belong to a small society called the Inklings; Tolkien isn’t a big fan of Lewis storytelling style, and Lewis isn’t a huge Middle-Earth fan, either. These two series of books share fan-base, but I doubt if the fans of Peter Jackson’s films will turn out to be great fans of this Narnia film version.