The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 2005

When the Pevensie family are evacuated out to the country they are unaware of the adventure they will encounter. During a game of hide and seek the youngest daughter Lucy (Henley) discovers a wardrobe which transports her to the land of Narnia. Covered in snow Narnia is full of weird and wonderful creatures but is watched over by the evil White Witch Jadis (Swinton). When all four Pevensie children end up through the wardrobe they discover that it was meant to be as two daughters of Eve and two sons of Adam must join with the mighty lion Aslan (Neeson) to defeat the evil White Witch.

Review

With an appeal to both adults and children the British author C. S. Lewis wrote seven books in his Chronicles of Narnia series. The stories are rich in mythology and religious symbolism drawing upon archetypes from the Norse GrecoRoman Persian medieval chivalric and JudeoChristian traditions.

Now comes this wonderful film of the first chronicle "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." The beautiful cinematography and the terrific performances of the children make this film outstanding for family viewing. As integrated with the live actors the colorful animal characters especially the Lion (Jesus) reveal brilliant technical filmmaking as well.

Lewiss books are not overtly allegorical. Rather the symbols and the messages are subtle. The four children in the story (Peter Susan Edmund and Lucy) were inspired by the actual children evacuated from London during World War II who spent time in Lewiss home. Lewis wanted his books to be enjoyed by young people who would later in their lives draw the spiritual meanings from the stories. In this area the film is enormously faithful to the original book and would have made the author extremely proud.