The Chronicles of Narnia

I really enjoyed the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'm sure it was a bit nostalgic for me because I escaped into this story during a particularly hateful stint at summer camp when I was eight years old. I was drawn into the story with it's magic and battle between good and evil. I found the movie excellent, aside from a couple of technical faults, and can wholeheartedly recommend it.

Tilda Swinton plays the White Witch and she's excellent with her guile and evilness. I have to hand it to the costume design team which dressed her in the most amazing evil queen raiment. During the battle scene, for example, they gave her a collar made from Aslan's shorn mane which provided a chilling effect. What better way to demoralize your opponent - wearing the fur of their leader? It looked sick.

I was really impressed with the CGI and costumes of all the magical creatures. It really worked in the film and was very believeable. I had a tiny problem with the river scene when the kids got soaked. They were on an ice floe yet didn't seem to suffer too much afterwards. "Peter, may I have my coat?" When it's freezing cold I need folks to act it.

The battle scenes were bloodless based on the PG rating. I could go along with that. In a way I was glad they didn't give it too much edge since blood and gore was never a focus of the story. And although the CGI Aslan couldn't compare with the real life White Witch I would have liked to have spent more time hearing from him. The White Witch's strength and power of her magic gave her the authority to lead all those evil beasts. I could have used more than my memory to flesh out Aslan's character. Still, this one is a keeper.