Saturday, December 10, 2005
Saturday Movie Review
Went to see the Narnia movie today, which is based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Christian writer C.S. Lewis, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was a darn good movie. There were a few bits that weren't so hot, but we'll get to them. On the whole it was fun and moving; what else do you want from a overtly allegorical fantasy written by a somewhat tweedy British scholar, a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien? It was filmed largely in New Zealand by a Kiwi director (just like Lord of the Rings--is there a rule about British fantasy and New Zealand which no one has told me about?) The director was Andrew Adamson, who did the Shrek movies and very little else. It has four good child actors; the youngest is the best. Tilda Swinton is the white witch of the title (and a darned fine villainess) and James Broadbent is the extraordinarily kind and wise professor who takes the children in. And it has lots and lots of pretty good special effects, the best of which is the lion of the title, Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson). What a triumph of computer generated images Aslan is (with the only tiny flaw the whiskers--too thick and stiff). All the talking creatures are really good.
OK, let's do some nitpicking. We start with night-time bombing of London by what looks like the Luftwaffe's entire supply of Heinkel 111-Fs. They got the detail that German bombs dropped ass end first out of the plane, quickly reverse and then fall like normal bombs, but the altitude of the German bombers couldn't have been 5,000 feet and the pilots and crew were all on oxygen. What were they, the Emphysema Corps? On the other hand, the station scenes of the evacuation of the children by steam train put a lump in my throat, so Adamson was doing something right. The Nazi beginning sets the deep magic tone--a straightforward but powerful good versus evil.
Once the little girl, Lucy, backs out of the magic wardrobe into Narnia, things get going after just a tiny bit of a slow period. She meets a Faun (mixed goat and human features) who takes her back to his art nouveau styled, middle-class British cave, but can't go through with turning her in, as the witch has commanded. Lucy escapes back to the English countryside estate where no one believes her. The second foray is with her and the contrarian younger brother Edmund and then the trouble begins with an unconscious betrayal. Then Edmund consciously betrays Lucy by lying about Narnia, a place he very well knows exists. Later Edmund bats a ball through a priceless stained glass window and the four children, in a panic to avoid the housekeeper's wrath, flee to the wardrobe and back into Narnia in the depths of the 100 year winter. After that, it's pretty much full on adventure.
They meet a talking beaver who tells them of the prophesy that they four will bring down the white witch and free, and rule, Narnia. Now, we have seen countless examples in literature of people hearing a prophesy and trying to escape their doom by making moves, ironically, which ensure the prophesy will come true. The powerful who hear a prophesy of their downfall would be wise to do nothing as the prophesy begins to come true and thus not help it come to pass, but the powerful doomed by prophesy are apparently also prophesized to help the original prophesy and always do. No different here. Tilda Swinton is smart enough but she's too much the cruel fascist to treat Edmund well and send the four back to England. Noooo, she has to make him betray his siblings and, by her cruelty, turn him to the good as she turns the faint-heart Susan and indecisive Peter into heroine and hero. Also the betrayals she extracts from Edmund set into motion Aslan's sacrifice and rebirth (Aslan is Jesus, for the learning disabled) and her own doom. Perhaps I've told too much of the plot here. Aslan dies and disappears at the end--that's all the facts you need to know. Forget I said the rest (for the few, like me, who will see this but never read the book).
More nitpicking. The good guys--cheetahs, rhinos, centaurs, good dwarfs, gryphons, fauns and full goat guys--look pretty good. That bad guys--minotaurs, cyclopes, bad dwarfs, pug uglies, ogres, giants, and pig-guys look bad--horribly stiff and made up. Only the wolves are as good as Aslan. Great trash talkers, the wolves. I know I would be unnerved.
The battle scenes are pretty good but bloodless. You don't see centaurs and cyclopes going at each other, hammer and tongs, with swords and lances every day. Slight nitpicking: Don't you have to practice some with a sword to be good enough to fight bigger, more experienced guys and win? Peter doesn't. Still, there was a sense of noble service and sacrifice and the essential nature of heroics (defense of a narrow place against odds). Once the four are in Narnia, the movie is just a delightful sound and light show that made you feel good too.
It's well over two hours long but went by too quickly. Stay for the credits, even though they stretch out to the crack of doom. There's a nice song by Alanis Morissette during them and the movie finishes with a Tim Finn number (the director is from New Zealand, mind you) which is very good.
I can't say it had the grandeur of the Lord of the Rings movies, but I think it had more emotional impact. Go see it with your kids and talk about if afterwards to make sure they got it.
OK, let's do some nitpicking. We start with night-time bombing of London by what looks like the Luftwaffe's entire supply of Heinkel 111-Fs. They got the detail that German bombs dropped ass end first out of the plane, quickly reverse and then fall like normal bombs, but the altitude of the German bombers couldn't have been 5,000 feet and the pilots and crew were all on oxygen. What were they, the Emphysema Corps? On the other hand, the station scenes of the evacuation of the children by steam train put a lump in my throat, so Adamson was doing something right. The Nazi beginning sets the deep magic tone--a straightforward but powerful good versus evil.
Once the little girl, Lucy, backs out of the magic wardrobe into Narnia, things get going after just a tiny bit of a slow period. She meets a Faun (mixed goat and human features) who takes her back to his art nouveau styled, middle-class British cave, but can't go through with turning her in, as the witch has commanded. Lucy escapes back to the English countryside estate where no one believes her. The second foray is with her and the contrarian younger brother Edmund and then the trouble begins with an unconscious betrayal. Then Edmund consciously betrays Lucy by lying about Narnia, a place he very well knows exists. Later Edmund bats a ball through a priceless stained glass window and the four children, in a panic to avoid the housekeeper's wrath, flee to the wardrobe and back into Narnia in the depths of the 100 year winter. After that, it's pretty much full on adventure.
They meet a talking beaver who tells them of the prophesy that they four will bring down the white witch and free, and rule, Narnia. Now, we have seen countless examples in literature of people hearing a prophesy and trying to escape their doom by making moves, ironically, which ensure the prophesy will come true. The powerful who hear a prophesy of their downfall would be wise to do nothing as the prophesy begins to come true and thus not help it come to pass, but the powerful doomed by prophesy are apparently also prophesized to help the original prophesy and always do. No different here. Tilda Swinton is smart enough but she's too much the cruel fascist to treat Edmund well and send the four back to England. Noooo, she has to make him betray his siblings and, by her cruelty, turn him to the good as she turns the faint-heart Susan and indecisive Peter into heroine and hero. Also the betrayals she extracts from Edmund set into motion Aslan's sacrifice and rebirth (Aslan is Jesus, for the learning disabled) and her own doom. Perhaps I've told too much of the plot here. Aslan dies and disappears at the end--that's all the facts you need to know. Forget I said the rest (for the few, like me, who will see this but never read the book).
More nitpicking. The good guys--cheetahs, rhinos, centaurs, good dwarfs, gryphons, fauns and full goat guys--look pretty good. That bad guys--minotaurs, cyclopes, bad dwarfs, pug uglies, ogres, giants, and pig-guys look bad--horribly stiff and made up. Only the wolves are as good as Aslan. Great trash talkers, the wolves. I know I would be unnerved.
The battle scenes are pretty good but bloodless. You don't see centaurs and cyclopes going at each other, hammer and tongs, with swords and lances every day. Slight nitpicking: Don't you have to practice some with a sword to be good enough to fight bigger, more experienced guys and win? Peter doesn't. Still, there was a sense of noble service and sacrifice and the essential nature of heroics (defense of a narrow place against odds). Once the four are in Narnia, the movie is just a delightful sound and light show that made you feel good too.
It's well over two hours long but went by too quickly. Stay for the credits, even though they stretch out to the crack of doom. There's a nice song by Alanis Morissette during them and the movie finishes with a Tim Finn number (the director is from New Zealand, mind you) which is very good.
I can't say it had the grandeur of the Lord of the Rings movies, but I think it had more emotional impact. Go see it with your kids and talk about if afterwards to make sure they got it.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:55 PM 
