It’s quite alright. He’ll often drop in.
Only you mustn’t press him.
He is wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.
But he is good?
Yes, he is good.
(Lucy and Mr Tumnus discuss the ways of Aslan)
Well I’ll be damned. The trailers for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe gave me hope. I expected the movie to be decent. I hoped that it would be good. I wasn’t prepared for it to be GOOD. I mean, damn, a book adaptation that holds it’s own with the source material? I was beginning to think such a thing would never be repeated.
(possibly spoilerish bits after the jump)
I now find myself rereading CS Lewis‘ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I felt I needed to since it’s been years since I read the original. The vague memories of that first reading and watching the animated movie that came out so long ago began to blend into something not entirely coherent. I figured it was time to overwrite the previous memory recording and burn a new memory disc.
In doing this I’m discovering that so far as I can tell, the screen writers took few liberties with Lewis’ vision. The liberties they did take actually helped to flesh out the story. Color me shocked.
Several performances stood out to my eyes. Tilda Swinton(The White Witch) was a formidable presence. What could have been cliched villainy turned into something deeply disturbing and very determined. I wouldn’t expect any less from the only good part of that sad comic-to-movie interpretation Constantine. Seriously, her Gabriel is the only thing worth watching in that flick.
James McAvoy(Mr Tumnus) had a memorable turn for such a short screen time. Georgie Henley(Lucy) was precious and endearing. Skandar Keynes(Edmund) tormented but in the end believably reformed. In fact, all of the kids are proof that utilizing unknown talent is well worth everybody’s time.
I didn’t have problems with the special effects. I hear others have made complaints on the subject. I really don’t know what their problem is. It wasn’t overdone like some people. Just subtle enough to make you wonder how they did certain bits.
The soundtrack offers up and odd mix of artists. Aside from the expected fanciful score, you get four recording artists as well. Imogen Heap who was the female half of the band Frou Frou. Alanis Morissette of all people wowed me with “Wunderkind”. Tim Finn who was part of the New Zealand band Crowded House. Lisbeth Scott is completely new to my ears and possibly someone worth looking into for later listenings.
The movie was a lovely fantasy worth falling into for a couple of hours. A nice escape that didn’t involve trite dialogue and milk trucks blowing up on cue.
So, yeah. I guess I liked the hell out of this movie. Seeing as a planned two paragraph review turned into a page. I’d like to watch it again but King Kong and Rent have a hold on my
precious dollars. Though I will do my best to catch it again before it leaves the big screen.
