Movie Review - Chronicles of Narnia: LW&W
Gonna start doing little movie review things. SOON I'LL BE FAMOUS. Maybe :(
Plot Summary: Based on C.S Lewis's wonderful novel, it's a fantasy story set during World War II, England. Four children are evacuated from their home to live within the house of an old, eccentric professer. Within a spare room, the youngest child, Lucy, discovers a wardrobe that leads to Narnia. She meets Tumnus the fawn, and thus begins a journey to decide the fate of this ice-trapped world. A witch has taken over Narnia in the absence of it's true leader, the lion Aslin, and it's up to the four children to stop her. According to novel study, the book itself is symboliclly linked to the Bible, and is one of a seven-or-eight part series. I forget just how many. Anyway. Pretty good series, go read it or somethin'. I mean, EVERYONE's read it. Why did I write this summery again? Oh well.
Ok, let's break this apart into peices, starting with the most important element of a movie (in my opinion, anyway):
Acting: Well then. Lowest part of the movie was the quality of acting. Granted, it IS pretty tough to find good, British child actors, but it was a major let-down for me. Tilda Swinton, however, was excellent as the witch, being a long-time actress in such films as The Beach and Vanilla Sky. The other human-based actors weren't too bad, and the voice actors were fine. Man, though, those kids. The strongest actor of them was, I feel, Lucy. I don't know the actresses name, I fail. So, the acting did very little for me, I'm sorry.
Characters: Peter was a bossy fruit, Susan was weird lookin' and non-cool, Edmond was a twerp, Lucy was kinda annoying but ok (people she doesn't look like me, THE NOSE IS ALL WRONG >/ ), Tumnus was adorable but sorta wishy-washy, Aslin was awesome, da witch was wonderfully evil, beavers were pretty cute, wolves were sorta hokey, the professer was cool.
SFX/Makeup/Costumes: This was sort of a mixed bag. Aslin looked the best out of all of them, he was fluffy and realistic. The half-human characters were pretty well done, too, adequetly convincing. The other animals weren't bad, though a little...off? I dunno, but on the whole, good. My problem really rests with some of the costumes and the appearance of the witch's 'hoarde'. The imps and trolls and whatever the rest of them were, well, didn't look convincing, scary, nothin' special. The minotaur guys looked the worst, argh. After the kids are garbed in more suitable, medieval clothing, they look retarded. The chainmail was over-the-top, and the dresses looked like they came from a costume shop. I was hoping for better, but then again, this is a movie directed to kids, so I can't really complain too much.
Overall: Generously, I'd give it 3.5/5. There were good moments, bad moments, and too much middle, average ground. With better acting, it would've soared higher than it did. It was enjoyable, though, and I'm glad we rented it.
Alyssa out.
Plot Summary: Based on C.S Lewis's wonderful novel, it's a fantasy story set during World War II, England. Four children are evacuated from their home to live within the house of an old, eccentric professer. Within a spare room, the youngest child, Lucy, discovers a wardrobe that leads to Narnia. She meets Tumnus the fawn, and thus begins a journey to decide the fate of this ice-trapped world. A witch has taken over Narnia in the absence of it's true leader, the lion Aslin, and it's up to the four children to stop her. According to novel study, the book itself is symboliclly linked to the Bible, and is one of a seven-or-eight part series. I forget just how many. Anyway. Pretty good series, go read it or somethin'. I mean, EVERYONE's read it. Why did I write this summery again? Oh well.
Ok, let's break this apart into peices, starting with the most important element of a movie (in my opinion, anyway):
Acting: Well then. Lowest part of the movie was the quality of acting. Granted, it IS pretty tough to find good, British child actors, but it was a major let-down for me. Tilda Swinton, however, was excellent as the witch, being a long-time actress in such films as The Beach and Vanilla Sky. The other human-based actors weren't too bad, and the voice actors were fine. Man, though, those kids. The strongest actor of them was, I feel, Lucy. I don't know the actresses name, I fail. So, the acting did very little for me, I'm sorry.
Characters: Peter was a bossy fruit, Susan was weird lookin' and non-cool, Edmond was a twerp, Lucy was kinda annoying but ok (people she doesn't look like me, THE NOSE IS ALL WRONG >/ ), Tumnus was adorable but sorta wishy-washy, Aslin was awesome, da witch was wonderfully evil, beavers were pretty cute, wolves were sorta hokey, the professer was cool.
SFX/Makeup/Costumes: This was sort of a mixed bag. Aslin looked the best out of all of them, he was fluffy and realistic. The half-human characters were pretty well done, too, adequetly convincing. The other animals weren't bad, though a little...off? I dunno, but on the whole, good. My problem really rests with some of the costumes and the appearance of the witch's 'hoarde'. The imps and trolls and whatever the rest of them were, well, didn't look convincing, scary, nothin' special. The minotaur guys looked the worst, argh. After the kids are garbed in more suitable, medieval clothing, they look retarded. The chainmail was over-the-top, and the dresses looked like they came from a costume shop. I was hoping for better, but then again, this is a movie directed to kids, so I can't really complain too much.
Overall: Generously, I'd give it 3.5/5. There were good moments, bad moments, and too much middle, average ground. With better acting, it would've soared higher than it did. It was enjoyable, though, and I'm glad we rented it.
Alyssa out.