reviewed by Debra Murphy
I saw this first installment of Narnia with members of our mythopoeic book group, then we all came back to our place to chat about it. 
We’re all huge fans of the books, of course, but of the eight of us who saw the film, I suspect I liked it least. Am I simply becoming an old curmudgeon, or just too picky…? I mean, there were some lovely moments, and I liked several of the actors very much, particularly the little girl who plays Lucy—can I take her home, please?—and young Edmund. Tilda Swinton was spectacular as the White Witch. I loved the way they depicted her, especially in the battle scene, as a sort of pagan warrior-goddess vs. the chivalric knights.
But now to my grumps.
The direction, by Andrew Adamson, the same young fellow who did Shrek, was for me an uneven and largely pedestrian affair with a few fine moments overshadowed by clumsy, static action sequences. Some of this may be put down to the wholly inadequate special effects—some of them, alas, the kind that I suspect will seem Titanic-laughable in very short order. We had originally rejoiced when we thought Weta was going to do the FX, but though Richard Taylor apparently had something to do with armor design, the FX in the film (produced by Disney) were the product of George Lucas’ ILM, Industrial Light and Magic, and it really shows. (My oldest sons, by the way, say the Weta FX in King Kong are simply the best they’ve ever seen, but then it doesn’t heart to have PJ as a director, either.)
And I simply must squeal a bit about the music soundtrack. There was a good deal of extra music by sundry bands, and I liked some of it, but I really didn’t think much of the score by Harry Gregson-Williams, with its overuse of the (rather schmaltzy) main theme and (horror of horrors!) Passion of the Christ rip-off during (I’m not kidding) the climactic Stone-Table-Aslan-sacrifice scene. The musical reference seemed cheeky and nearly blasphemous in the Da Vinci Code trailer, and here came across as just a bit pretentious.
Finally, as much as I love Liam Neeson—so wonderful in Schindler’s List and Les Miserables—the somewhat Zen persona he’s taken on of late made his Aslan just too much of a pussycat for my taste—a couple of nice roars do not a not-tame lion make. (And Aslan is not a tame lion!) I couldn’t help but bemoan the fact that (so I heard, at least) the sublime Timothy Dalton had been considered for the voice of Aslan; but the filmmakers went with first Brian Cox, then, when they didn’t quite like what Cox was giving them—I can’t imagine Cox being less than superb in anything—opted for the warmer and fuzzier Liam Neeson. But Dalton, who has one of the great English-language voices, would have given the Lion precisely that mix of warmth, gravitas, power, and unpredictability which Aslan requires. (Those who doubt me, check out Dalton’s Rochester in the 80s TV version of Jane Eyre.)
Be all this as it may, this was still an enjoyable two hours at the movies, and I think should be especially entertaining for children, who haven’t yet seen as many movies as an old bird like me. And I do hope the film does well enough to warrant finishing the series, though if it does, I hope they will do it the way the Harry Potter movies are being done, with different directors each time. Stories as wonderful as these could really use an Alphonso Cuaron or Mike Newell to bring them to life.