The Movie: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--possible spoilers

Saw it and was quite enchanted by it. Didn’t quite pack the emotional appeal of the book in that I didn’t openly break down and weep during the movie. The resurrection doesn’t quite pack the punch of the book, even though the staging is accurate to the book’s. I guess that visually, it all happens too suddenly while on the page, the narration gives it tie and space to breathe.

The girls playing with Aslan after the resurrection was the thing from the books I missed most, although I can see why they left it out. In the book, the narration stays with Lucy and Susan all through the night and the next day is Aslan dies, comes back to life, takes the girls to the Witch’s castle, and leads the reanimated forces their back to Beruna for the denouement of the battle. The movie switches from the girls to the boys, and it would seem odd to see the girls frolicing with Aslan in the grass while the boys are facing mortal peril.

I’m about the same. Thank you. Do you? It isn’t. We’re in the wrong thread for this [/hijack]

They’re riding talking horses? They’re riding talking horses?! Blasphemy!

Other than that, it wasn’t bad. I do agree that those who loved the books as a child will see the movie in a better light than will those that haven’t read them or don’t remember them - the book lovers will fill in the details from their own memories and give the movie more credit than perhaps it is due. I can see how the non-book readers might give it a meh.

Mr. Tumnus was indeed excellent.

I agree, Tumnus did an excellent job. Apparently he’s a fire-eater! :eek: (Interesting to see such a martial actor doing such a good job with a gentle character.) I especially liked the look he gave Edmund in the prison when he found out the kind of person he was then.

I agree with the “battle-hardened” questions. When all of the centaurs in armor showed up, my first (silent) question was: Who have they been practicing against? Each other? Not a good way to learn to fight non-centaurs, I’d think. That being said, I want a Rhino! And I thought Patrick Kake (Oreius) was good too. “Are you with me?” “To the death.” Also, where was Edmund’s wound from the Witch?

All those nitpicks aside, I did like it and I teared up a few times.

This was my 3 year old son’s first movie outing, and I think it was everything we all hoped it would be. Even skirting 3 hours, he made it through without fidgeting, bathroom breaks, or outbursts. He was terrified of the movie posters, but upon learning that the lion was a *good * guy, he relaxed considerably.

I thought that it was good with few exceptions:

  1. the beginning dragged on (the first 30 minutes) though I think this might have been by design.

  2. The White Witch was not what I pictured, though she did fit into my wife’s vision of ‘Galadriel claiming the Ring.’

  3. I needed more of a redemption for Edmund. He didn’t do too badly, but if you’re going to betray God, you really need to kick butt to be forgiven. I had actually hoped for him saving Peter during his final duel. But it’s not supported by the text, so I can’t fault the filmmakers for going with their vision.

Okay, I don’t know if anyone else feels this, but…

Didn’t Mr. Tumnus seem a little embarassed about his father? As I recall, in the book there was just a throw-away mention of a picture of a grey-bearded Faun on the end table. Added to the cozyness of the Tumnus home.

But, in the movie Mr. Tumnus seems to act as if his father, who was in “a war” might have been on the wrong side. Maybe his father was Lucifer … the horns, the cloven hooves, it fits…

I think Tumnus was ashamed not because his father did anything wrong, but he himslef, as an agent of the White Witch, is not living up to his father’s example. I would imagine the war his father took part in was Jadis’ conquest of Narnia.

I’m pretty sure this is alluded to in the book, with Tumnus mentioning during his tearful confession to Lucy the his father would never stoop to doing the horrible things hie was doing.

That’s what I thought too.

I just remembered something that I wish was included in the dialogue. I really like how in the book the chapter “Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time” is followed by one called “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time”. I wish there was a line in the movie that used the latter title.

I think the White Witch would like it here in Minnesota. The Narnian winter is wimpy in comparison, except that it lasted longer there.

I mentioned to my kid what was stated earlier about the Chief Secret Police Wolf being the only character who spoke with an American accent. She believes the Fox also had an American accent.

Anyone?

Didn’t Philip the horse have an American accent?

—The Fox was voiced by Rupert Everett. I’ve found him to be very British, not Midlantic, but perhaps he was persuaded to dumb down for this role.

—I was not impressed by Liam Neeson’s performance as Aslan. His speech was not majestic enough for the character, I thought. Ditto with Father Christmas: the impression he gives in the book is that of someone surprisingly stern. [Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn’t find it quite like that…They felt very glad, but also solemn.] Furthermore, I didn’t expect him to look like a Coca-Cola Santa, but I did think he’d look like St. Nicholas: where was his staff? :slight_smile:

—But I had no problem with Tilda Swinton’s portrayal of the White Witch. That role was ripe for scenery-chewing, but she conveyed the right degree of menace. I also thought she was well-costumed. I’m not sure of the era, but I think there was a time when royals and titled women did wear those stiff gowns that bypassed the bosom entirely and went right from shoulder to shoulder. At any rate, they looked like armor, and remember, centuries earlier, Jadis had been a queen who “poured out the blood of [her] armies like water”. That said, I’d always thought she was supposed to be ghastly white, not merely pale, but whatever.

—I also felt the lack of propaganda about Aslan before we actually meet him. It wouldn’t have taken more than 90 seconds to add the dialogue about Aslan being “not safe, but good”. There wasn’t enough of a sense that the Narnians really revere him for his own sake, not just because he’s prophesied to end winter and banish the Witch.

—It also would have helped if Aslan would have been shown going over battle plans with Peter and with the other alpha males, even if it was only a brief visual. Then it would have been clear that Peter was to be the general because Aslan said so. And I agree that Peter wasn’t shown as much of a swordsman. Sword or gun, if you’re going to draw a weapon, use it!

—I can understand the decision to ramp up the chase scenes, but I personally didn’t dig it. The river scene really wasn’t necessary; the hero scene is when Peter kills Fenris (I will not call him Maugrim ;)). And I honestly don’t know why the scene with Tumnus and Edmund was created. Maybe it’s just me, but I was always partial to the scene where Edmund is cold and wet and hungry en route to the WW’s castle, almost turns back, but then mutters, “When I’m King of Narnia, the first thing I shall do will be to make some decent roads.” I don’t know why, but that always struck me funny.

—And for that matter, a lot of the dialogue was missing, as other posters have noted. “Us lions,” “Must more die for Edmund?” “We might all try minding our own business,” “And whatever happens, never forget to wipe your sword.” (or was that in there?) And two exchanges that I particularly liked: first, when the dwarf says, “This is no thaw. This is spring…This is Aslan’s doing,” and the WW snaps, “If either of you mentions that name again, he shall instantly be killed.” So we can really see both her frustration and her grudge against Aslan. And second, when all four children go through the wardrobe and Edmund drops a dime on himself by mentioning the lamppost.

—That said, I thought the sacrifice scene was brilliantly done, as well as the battle scene. And two small touches that I liked were Jadis wearing Aslan’s mane into the battle, and the Professor going from mildly interested to sitting straight up and repeating, “The wardrobe?” And if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t leave the instant the credits start. :wink:

Nitpick: Prince Rilian was in Silver Chair. The guy you’re thinking of was King Tirian.

At that time and place, you want he should have been handing out lumpy sweaters and Ludo sets? :dubious:

:smack:

You’ll admit the names are very similar…

Oh, and one other thing, that I’m not sure anyone has mentioned. Does anyone remember the exact wording of Susan’s yelling at Peter something to the effect of “Just because someone throws a sword at you doesn’t make you a king!”? :wink:

I think it was: “Just because someone gives you a sword, it doesn’t make you a hero!”

I agree the movie had problems. The battle at the end wasn’t very well done, though at least the CGI was good. I think the movie was great in the first half.

P.S: I love Maugrim. He’s my favorite character (evil or not). I mean, c’mon: “Please don’t run. We’re very tired and we’d lik to kill you quickly!”

Classic.

The fox didn’t die (he shows up at the very end). Howwver, it looks like the Griffon who got shattered did die. We can probably assume that anyone in the army who died before Lucy came around with the healing potion stayed that way.

Safety, definitely. As long as she had Edmund, the White Witch felt she could off him as needed. OTOH, getting the other kids would be a very good idea. “Just to be sure.”

I have to admit, when I heard that I wondered whether the inspiration for that line was:

“Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

or

“Well you can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!”

or

“I mean, if I went around sayin’ I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they’d put me away!”

:smiley:

To be fair RickJay more than a few people have mentioned being converted to Firefly fans via first watching Serenity ( which I thought was good, but not great ).

  • Tamerlane

Well, if it wasn’t deliberate, Plynck, it was one helluva coincidence that movie-Susan would use that logic when book-Susan never did! At any rate, almost every adult in the theater laughed.

Well, I just got off my butt and saw this and I must say I’m oscillating back and forth between good and meh.

I read the books as a prelude to seeing the movies, not as a child, so I suppose my jaded adulthood might have softened the impact that stories had on me. That is to say even in book form I didn’t love the story. I quite enjoyed them since I like the fantasy genre, but the story is a little too simplistic for me. Lets face it, the plot of the book is pretty flimsy and it’s one giant deus ex machina in action, over and over.

Coming away from the movie, I agree that the CGI was uneven. Many of the animals looked and moved terrifically. I thought Tumnus’s CGI walk was done poorly, visually it was OK but the physics of it were nonexistent. The green-screening was less than perfect too, but in a way I didn’t mind since it seemed to contribute to the fantastic place that Narnia is. Basically it made the place look surreal instead of phony.

My biggest beef is with Aslan. I agree that Liam Neisen was ineffectual as Aslan…honestly I didn’t even notice it was him until reading this thread. If ever a character cried out for James Eal Jones to do the voice acting Aslan was it. They needed a voice that was booming and menacing. More damaging than the voice was the total lack of reverence that the creature of Narnia showed him before the big reveal. The books did a nice job of indicating that Aslan was awe inspiring and beyond belief. Most had never seen him and he was barely more than a legend to them. This wasn’t conveyed at all in the movie. That’s a big reason why the sacrifice scene lost it’s punch. You just didn’t have much of a impression of what was being lost in Aslan at that point. They just didn’t show that Aslan was divinity and as such his coming and going to Narnia just seemed like a plot hole.

Lucy was irritating. I think generally speaking child actors are a problem, at least ones in her age range, and this example was no different. I wish they’d have aged her up a little bit so they could have gotten away from the steroetypical child with a speech impediment casting choice. The other children did a pretty good job with the lines they were given. I thought Lucy was generally OK through the initial scene with Tumnus, but after she was a giant white elephant on screen.

The coronation scene at the end was poorly done. If they insisted on putting the titles on the kids they should have done it with an epilogue or with narration instead, in the context it was done it just didn’t make sense. Worse was the forced “Hail Peter, Hail Susan, Hail Edward, Hail Lucy…” chant. Too wordy and repetitive. A simple “Hail the Kings and Queens of Narnia” from Aslan followed by a cheer would have come across as more graceful. It’s probably a minor quibble, but if they wanted to make this a goosebump inducing memorable scene they failed.

The Beavers were excellent and the comic relief they provided was really nicely done. Usually when a character like that is intended to add levity it comes off as buffoonery. In this case it added a nice dimension to the affection Mr. and Mrs. Beaver had. The CGI was especially successful there.

On the whole the characterization of all the fictional characters was good. The Minotaurs, Centaurs, Gryffins and others looked excellent.

I felt the mice should have been brought into the film. If there are ever to be sequels I think it’d have been nice to have this background to flesh out Reepicheep and the gang.
The long and short of it is that the film is pretty good if treated as eye-candy and I can imagine that kids and adolescents will appreciate it for its simplicity and fantasy. If studied closely it breaks down pretty quickly. It didn’t achieve it’s potential and I don’t think that’s simply due to the fact it’s novel adaptation.

Not to revive a tired thread, but I must object. I saw the movie yesterday. When I was a kid, I read the books over and over. In fact, they may have fed my growing atheism. Why? Because I could never understand the fuss about Aslan. He never really DOES anything. Why worship him in the first place, is what I wanted to know. And the last book of the series was such an emotional gyp I was stunned. For years after. I know it supposed to be an allegory for the Apocalypse and all that. I had read my bible. But good glory—what a GYP!

However, my objection to the movie lies in a different area. Susan was such a BITCH in the movie. I know they did that to lay the groundwork for the eventual fate of Susan as one who has ‘fallen away’ from her beliefs. But in the first book, which I reread last night, she much more helpful, clever, and brave than in the movie. This disconnect really, really annoyed.

Now, I’m going to slog my way through every last one of the books until I get to the last one again. Then, I’m going to thank og once again for my profound lack of belief in a divine being of any variety.