An Extensive Wardrobe

I went to see Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe yesterday with some friends. Another friend of mine had already seen it. I’ve never actually read the books. They are one on the long list of books I didn’t read as a child that I must try to fit in somewhere. Anyway, let me ramble on about the movie. I’ll try to refrain from spoilers.

Basically, there isn’t much to spoil. It’s about four siblings that travel to a magical land called Narnia. They meet some people, do some things, and overcome some other things. That about covers it, without actually covering it.

It’s interesting because the movie wasn’t as jam packed and jelly tight as I have gotten used to in movies based on fantasy books. However, looking at the book of slightly over 200 pages, the size of the 7 book set, or the 528 page complete set in one book, I realize that this book is nowhere near the Herculean size of the Potter (Holy crap look at that price. Hmmmm.) or Lord of the Rings (Dang look at that price too. That’s why book stores are evil places.) series. I actually found this slow pace to be rather refreshing. I have noticed that the HP movies have become increasingly fast paced and abridged, thought I haven’t read them either. I’ve felt like I was watching an action film or I was on a rollercoaster in the last one. It’s not good when you can tell things have been cut out in the transition from book to movie, even when you haven’t read the book. It’s actually to the point of being confusing and distracting. I hope they plan on splitting the next book into 2 parts or something to combat this. I’d hate to see a good series go bad. TLOTR wasn’t too bad about this, but those were 2.5 – 4 hours long for each movie. This one was about the right speed for a children’s book/movie.

I was reading something about C. S. Lewis a few weeks back and it said that he hadn’t wanted movies to be made about the books, especially by Disney. I can’t find the original place I read that but here is one thing I did find with limited search time. Not having read the book I can’t comment on the validity of the Disney interpretation. (All movies based on books are interpretations.) I will say one thing, given the greatly reinterpreted, sanitized, humorized, abridged, and sell your soul types of movies Disney was making at the time, and continues to make, I don’t blame him for not wanting it put on the screen. Given that, I have one thing to say. This is probably one of the least Disneyfried^© movies I have seen in a long time. On top of that, the CGI done for the animal characters was top notch. I had to keep telling myself that that wasn’t a lion. Plus the transition from CGI to real object for touching or laying on didn’t show any of the usual weird color or textural changes that are often evident. I give it an A+ on almost everything, except the mouths of some of the minotaur as they roared. I also agree with Scanime that the lack of blood was interesting, but it only really became apparent after one thing, that I won’t mention.

So, I enjoyed the movie. I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy. I also recommend it for children, over the age of 8. Younger than that it’s up to the parents to know what their child can handle. I say for the lovers of fantasy and normal pacing, it’s well worth the price of full admission. For people who merely like good movies I recommend the matinee showing. I think this one might have to go on the DVD purchase list. I can’t wait to see if there are any good extras.