The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Movie Review 2005

"Shrek" director Adamson turns C.S. Lewis' children's classic into a "Lord of the Rings" meets "Veggie Tales" adventure-allegory for kids. The four Pevensie siblings stumble into a magical wardrobe that transports them to the wonderful world of Narnia, a fairy tale kingdom torn between the evil White Witch (Swinton, in the film's best role) and the messianic lion Aslan (Neeson). Adamson stays faithful to the book, but bolsters the eye candy factor with lots of PG-friendly battles between fauns, unicorns, and giants. Fun stuff for seven-year-olds, but if you're a grown-up, you'll be rolling your eyes at the heavy-handed religious allusions and cut-rate CGI effects.

Distribution

Walt Disney Home Video, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521, Phone: (818)265-6500, URL: http://disney.store.go.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on DVD
Running time 139 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Fantasy, World War II, Religion, Magic

Screenplay

Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Cast

Tilda Swinton, Anna Popplewell, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, James Cosmo, Judy McIntosh, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, William Moseley, Kiran Shah

Cinematography

Donald McAlpine

Director

Andrew Adamson, Ann Peacock

Music

Harry Gregson-Williams

Other

Liam Neeson, Ray Winstone, Dawn French, Rupert Everett, Sim Evan-Jones, Cameron Rhodes, Philip Steuer, Jim May, Tony Johnson, Sim Evan-Jones, Jim May, Jeff Thorp, Karen Murphy, Jules Cook, Isis Mussenden, Roger Ford

Producer

Mark Johnson, Philip Steuer, Mark Johnson, Buena Vista, Walt Disney Pictures, Walden Media