I’ve contributed a blurb on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the Matthews House Project:
Like a zombie version of the classic children’s tale, Andrew Adamson’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe goes through the motions of C.S. Lewis’s story but drains it of its spirit. A few moments work fairly well (Lucy’s first meeting with Mr Tumnus among them), but the characterization of Aslan and the White Witch is all wrong, and at times conveys an impression exactly opposite to what Lewis intended (here, instead of Good being superior to Evil and fully in control, it is on equal footing and, at times, even a tad inferior; notice how it is Aslan, and not the Witch, who loses his temper at their first meeting). These thematic problems are aggravated, on a cinematic level, by Shrek veteran Adamson’s fitful efforts to make the transition from animation to live-action; at times it seems he is awkwardly imitating Jackson, Spielberg and other filmmakers rather than bringing his own vision to the table.
With any luck, this will be the last thing I say about this film for a while — there are lots of other items on my plate right now.
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