Hey folks, Harry here with the latest from Massawyrm, this time on the big NZ fantasy film of 2005, well one of em anyways. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. I had to miss this press screening to watch Ralph the Buffalo upon the stone table in Houston being sacrificed to the almighty Bevo Longhorn. The sequel film where Bevo destroys the Mighty Condoms of Southern California should be a blast, and luckily, I don't thing that film conflicts with any press screenings of major fantasy films. I'll see this Tuesday, later today is SYRIANA, which I'm dying to see. Anyways, here's Massawyrm with his take on C.S. Lewis by way of that Shrek guy...
Hola all. Massawyrm here. Easily the most debated film the season hands down is going to be Narnia – the debates will be wide ranging and cover a lot of different bases. But before I get into the arguments and my opinions, let me get a little business out of the way first. I’m calling this Narnia. Throughout this review I will refer to it as Narnia, as I will in conversation or subsequent reviews alluding to it. Yes, I do in fact know that the film is called The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Narnia is shorter than even the acronym of that monstrosity of a title, and knowing full well the attention span of many of those that read this site, I’ve decided to spare myself the half dozen “I stopped reading the third time he said the full name” posts, despite the fact I’m certain they’ll find another reason to stop reading earlier anyhow.
Moving along. Narnia is the big debate film this season. It’s the one you and your buddies are going to be arguing about the most and might even be hard to avoid hearing people debate online or on talkshows. Kong is going to get praised ceaselessly. So much so people are going to want to stop hearing about it. It’s brilliant iconic source material directed by a proven director who loves the source material more than breath. The ReRe Right is just going to avoid Syriana altogether and kick up a stink about it without watching it, while the wingnut left is going to simply nod their heads and say “It’s about time someone told the truth.” But everyone’s going to see Narnia, and everyone’s going to have a completely different take on it. And that’s before people even get around to discussing whether they liked it or not. You see, C.S. Lewis was a Christian, one who wrote several seminal works of Christian fiction (particularly Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce and my personal favorite, the Screwtape Letters.) And there has been much debate over the years as to just how Christian a work the Narnia series is. Christian fans argue that it is a subtle Christian tale allowing Christian ideals to be shared with a secular audience, while the Secular audience feels that the parallels the Christians are drawing are purely coincidental and that the Christians should really stop reading into things so much. Meanwhile, hardcore zealots like the rabid headcases over at places like capalert.com (always good for a laugh, and a place I love to visit when I feel like I simply want to experience spastic colon and have something mindless to rant and scream about for an hour or two) will deride this as entirely too secular as it acknowledges powers that emanate from a source other than God (as they held as their chief objection to the Star Wars saga.) What’s unfortunate about this debate is that this film will no doubt be referred to time and time again as the Christian Lord of the Rings (pssst – Tolkien was a Christian too, and there are theories on how Christian LotR was as well – but don’t tell the atheists.) This is going to scare off a lot of potential heathens who might otherwise enjoy this film, because, well, at least as a film, describing this as a Christian work of fantasy is way off base.
This is a work of fantasy that never mentions God, prayer, the Christ or angels (although the White Witch played an Angel in Constantine, so go have fun arguing that one.) Yes, someone dies and comes back – but not after three days. It happens a lot in fiction, and is pretty thin. The Lord of the Rings comparison, however is inescapable. It’s an epic fantasy written by someone who was best friends with Tolkien, both of which set out to do the same thing in different ways. The argument as to which is a better book series has raged with geeks for decades, but the argument as to which is a better movie ends very quickly.
Narnia is an excellent film, one that I absolutely loved and will gush about in a few moments. But it’s no Lord of the Rings. It’s a kids film, one that will separate the wheat from the chaff in geek culture as to who still lets their inner child come out to play and who strangled theirs to death with the banality of their own existence years ago. Me, I have a very strong connection to my inner child. It’s why Harry and I get along so well. We each have two inner children – the 8 year old that delights in watching kids films and hitting each other with Hulk hands, and the 13 year old that laughs at 22-inch turd jokes. This is a film for the 8 year old. This is a film entirely about wonder, what it is to have the innocence of a child and what it is to have the urge to one day be a king without actually having any prerequisites to be one. Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, despite being a work widely read by the young, isn’t anywhere near the kids series Narnia is. It’s mature, bloody, and has several through lines that are far more complicated than Narnia ever gets. And for that reason alone, many are going to love LotR much more than this. LotR is grittier, harsher and sweeping. This film, well, has Santa Claus. And that’s gonna lose some folks. You’re going to hear a lot of “Well, I was really into it until Santa showed up.” And it can’t be helped. Some people just don’t have inner children. While I’d like to say there’s nothing wrong with that, here at AICN, we discourage that sort of thing. Lacking an inner child makes you incomplete around here. For those of you that haven’t figured that out, understand it now, and understand that this is where I’m coming from. An inner child is extremely important to loving this film, and any of you cynics looking for LotR 2, well, you ain’t gonna find it. This is a very different film in tone and in essence.
This is not just a film about children, it is a film about childhood, about the dreams, the wonder and the pains of growing up. It’s about finding a portal to another world and getting caught up in the events of it. It’s about talking animals, magical weapons, mythical beasts and an unending love of Turkish Delights. And it’s about Santa Claus showing up. It’s everything cynics hate about kids films, all delightfully wrapped up into one package with a really awesome battle scene. That’s the part they’re not going to hate.
Me? I loved every minute of this. From it’s dark opening amid the bombing of the Blitzkrieg to its sappy, but wonderful ending. Every moment. This is a film that is really, really good – but just short of being truly great (something I attribute more to my preference of source material than to the film making itself.) Every aspect of the filmmaking is truly inspired. Andrew Adamson, in his first live action effort, really went to town on this. The visual effects are stunning and seamless. Everything from the look and movement of the Fawn legs (which were just mesmerizing), to the way the animals look and feel like real characters (in the very same way Gollum did in LotR – only imagine 20 different characters done with that amount of attention) all the way down to the freaking minotaurs. Minotaurs! Holy crap! This movie has minotaurs! Lot’s of them! And they look awesome! Anyone who knows me well enough knows of my love of the furry, bull headed beasts – from my collection of painted Minotaurs, to my D&D Miniatures collection, to my multiple Tauren characters in the land of Azeroth. I did mention the whole inner child thing, right? Yeah. Bigtime inner child stuff here. Anyhow, total geekout aside, everything simply looked great. The makeup, the creature design, the sets – everything works to set you fully in the world of Narnia.
The casting here was perfect – absolutely perfect. All four children simply shine in their roles, but the stand out is 10-year old Georgie Henley as Miss Lucy Pevensie, who is quite simply the most charming, most adorable little girl to hit the screen in ages. It is her reactions, her glorious looks of wonder that sell the magic of Narnia. While each of the children does a great job in their roles, she is the one who leads us through what is truly beautiful about the film. Watching her play off of the fantastic performance of James McAvoy’s Mr. Tumnus proves to be the very heart and soul of the film and the very reason to fall in love with Narnia itself. Everything that follows after these exchanges, every bit of pathos, draws its power from them. Tilda Swinton is positively hiss-worthy as the White Witch, forging a role as one hell of a truly detestable villain and Jim Broadbent, while given very little screentime, makes every single frame of film count as the wise Professor.
Everything about the world is magical and perfectly executed – but that won’t help you one lick if you’re not ready to buy Narnia as a world. Narnia is the land of childhood dreams. It is a place of ceaseless wonder and deep magic. But sadly, it’s not a land for everyone. It’s a land cynicism won’t allow and a place many of you will visit and some simply won’t like. Because you can’t buy talking animals and you won’t buy Santa Claus. If you are one of us lucky ones to still have your inner child intact, I honestly think you’re going to get one hell of a kick out of this movie. While not LotR, it is most definitely akin to Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal or the Neverending Story. And to it’s benefit, it’s the LotR movie families can take their young kids to. But it’s gonna cause a stir.
Is it too Christian? Not Christian enough? And what the fuck was up with Santa Claus (even though he’s only there for one scene?) Ah, the wonders of cynicism. It’s going to kill this movie for a lot of folks. But for those who still believe, those who still revel in the awe of childhood and the simplicity of its joys, well, enjoy - this is a perfect holiday film for you.
Until next time, friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will.
Massawyrm
I got your Jesus Lion right here! Come Get Some!
