Chronicles of Narnia

First, I like the movie alot. I will see this again at least once more in the theatre.

Now the bad. I assumed the computer graphics for Aslan would be sub-par. I was half right. The CG was sub-par but it was not the CG for the lion. It was worst with some of the scenery. Some of the animals were not up to par in the CG department. Aslan, however, was done VERY well.

The story was true to the book. The characters were well cast.

Aslan is a complicated role to cast. Aslan has to be a large presence while also being a wise mentor. A difficult role to cast. The overused voice of James Earl Jones would have been perfect. Otherwise the film would have to choose one role over the other. Here they chose one of the best "mentor" voices in Liam Neeson.

In spite of my issues with the CG I think the movie was highly enjoyable. Even if you did not watch Passion of the Christ because you did not want to be deluged with religion you should still be able to watch Narnia.

Some reviews I have read leave me perplexed. From Pop Matters

The final battle returns the children to the opening of the film: they witness (and now enact) violent destruction of bodies and material. This time, the fight images are rendered in gallant and rather grand terms, as the two armies gather on hilltops and leaders raise their arms to prompt forward motion...It recalls the awesome power of war, to pretend glory and abstract honor. And then the children's indoctrination seems less charming. They are warriors, drawn into killing and a general faith in militarism, into the sense that wars might solve problems, or at the least, beat them into submission. And that is very scary.

Can we NOT have an anti-war message in a review of a children's story?

From Hollywood Bitch Slap

It’s been far too long since I’ve read “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the first and most famous of Lewis’ Narnia novels, so I’m not sure if the parts in the movie that put me off are the fault of Lewis or the screenwriters. Whoever’s to blame, the story just doesn’t work. Oh, it begins just fine - quite wonderfully, in fact, as four lonely siblings discover that a hidden wardrobe in a spare room is in fact the gateway to the magical snow-covered kingdom of Narnia. This first half is, for the most part, a delight, with the discoveries of a new world winning us over. But then the story takes an odd left turn, with the introduction of a major war and the inclusion of the children in that war. The transition from enchanted fairy land to medieval battle ground is strained at best.

Ultimately, the story is too lazy. There’s an embarrassing bit in the middle of it all in which the last character you’d ever expect to cameo here pops by to all-too-loudly deliver the main characters with weapons (because hey, giving kids sharp objects and telling them to get ready for war is fun!)...

Yep, it's been too long and it shows. And again, can we leave the anti-war message out? Catch a recurring theme in the antagonists?

From Film Critic.com

Lewis was a different sort, of course, and though the seven Narnia books were brilliant fantasy, they also had an irksome tendency towards preachiness. This same problem afflicts The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the (potentially) first Chronicles of Narnia film, a crass product of merchandised morality from Disney and Walden Media, a media company owned by Christian evangelist billionaire Philip Anschutz.
...
The kids have shown up at dire times for Narnia: Jadis rules with an iron fist, having kept the country locked in winter for a century. Revolt is brewing, though, amongst the many charming, talking animal species of Narnia (everything from otters to centaurs), and word is that the arrival of four sons and daughters of Adam (humans) presages the return of the great lion Aslan – Churchill to Jadis’ Hitler. Before long, the snow begins to thaw, war will be waged and the young Pevensies had better get with the right side before it starts. They must also endure, along with the rest of us, endless lessons in faith and family.

I don't think there is any mistaking the intent of the religious allegories in the Chronicles of Narnia. So why hold up the books as "brilliant fantasy" and then get pissy about the film's "endless lessons in faith and family"?

The thing I like best about the books and this movie is they can be enjoyed either looking for the Christian overtones or ignoring them. Other stories cannot enjoy this same dual enjoyment. Passion of the Christ is a great religious movie but a horrid movie on its own. At this moment I cannot think of another story that can be equally enjoyed (and equally good) with or without the theological overtones.

All in all, I give it an A-.