The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Today, in a theatre packed with surprisingly well-behaved children, I watched the new live-action The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Have you read the book? Did you enjoy it? Then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the movie as it does a very remarkable job of following the book. There are very few lines in the movie which do not appear in the book (and most of the added lines are spoken by the beavers). The scenes in the movie appear in the same order as in the book and no new scenes have been added aside from a fairly well-handled introduction. It was, I repeat, remarkable in this way and it pleased me very much.

There were some things which could bear improving, of course. The CGI animation for the bottom half of Mr. Tumnus looked like something out of a Harryhousen movie. The rest of the CGI was top-notch however, most especially the work done on Aslan.

My biggest complaint is with the costumer for Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch. Um…what exactly was that thing you had her wearing for the first half of the movie, anyway? The poor woman looked exquisitely uncomfortable, for all of her acting skills. The costumer redeemed him-/herself during the battle scene however. The outfit worn by the queen here was much better. Guy, if you see this movie pay close attention to her full-length skirt of actual chainmail. It must’ve weighed fifty pounds if an ounce.

When the movie first started and I finally got to see the casting for the children (as I don’t have TV and don’t get bombarded with movie ads) I have to admit that I was disappointed. Lucy was too small and young, Susan was not tall enough and Edmund was just off somehow. But as the movie progressed they made a believer of me, even little Lucy.

Over all I liked the movie very much. Thank God someone has finally made a movie of a book which actually portrays the book on which it is based. And it only took Hollywood about a century to catch on.