by Kuan Hur Tan

Created on: May 29, 2009

I watched the Prince of Caspian the other week and thought that I will have to watch the first in the series of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Well, kind of long for a movie name. And I watched it too, just now. I remember that my friends who went to cinema to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and they told me that it was not worth to watch at all the very next day. I agree with them now, although not totally but most probably, kids will love it.

Preview
Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy are siblings and they are sent away from home during the World War II to a professor's house. One day, Lucy discovers a huge wardrobe in a spare room. As they are playing hide and seek, Lucy thinks that it will be a good idea to hide in the wardrobe. While hiding, she discovers that there is a whole new world at the back of the wardrobe.

Curiosity leads all four of them to explore the world of Narnia where there are fauns, dwarves, talking animals and trees. Bad things happen when Edmund meets the White Witch and is forced to tell her everything he knows about Aslan and his army in order to keep himself alive. Thus, Peter, Susan and Lucy are determined to rescue Edmund with the help of Aslan, the King of Narnia.

The battle between the good and the bad begins. While the bad outnumbers the good, Aslan, Susan and Lucy go to the White Witch's castle to free the captured Narnians. The White Witch is defeated and Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy continue their life in Narnia until they discover the wardrobe once again.

The Storyline
It is quite boring at the beginning. All the talking seems to be quite long-winded even when they start to explore the world of Narnia. Well, after all, the movie is the first in the series and some things need to be explained thoroughly. One thing leads to another thing and they all fit into the picture very nicely. Well, at least not like some of the stories where some of the scenes are create so intentionally that you can actually predict what happen next.

The Effects
I thought the effects are good, in normal motion. For example, when the lion or any of the animals are talking and walking around, the effects are smooth but they are not the same when they are running. When they are in fast motion, the pictures seem to be out of place. There are also some great amount of work done to create all the characters in the movie. Not like in some movies where the number of characters seem limited and the 'monsters' are copied from other well-known movies. Overall, the effects are good and I like the Aslan's voice but not the name. By the way, the use of sounds and musics are good too.

Verdict
I must say that this movie is not that bad. Having watched Prince of Caspian, which I believe that it is a better movie, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has done well in introducing the start of The Chronicles of Narnia. The experience of watching this movie in the cinema will be a lot better than watching using my 19-inch monitor and I do not see the reason why my friends complained to me about it. Maybe they are expecting too much from it. After all, The Chronicles of Narnia is a movie for the kids.

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