From The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.Pity the poor movie theater employee that's got to put up this marquee: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And pity the theater manager that dares shorten it to 'Narnia.' Disney will be taking no chances, I'm sure, that anyone will forget that this is to be the first in a series. After all, it's to be their bid for some of that cinematic Harry Potter lucre. Unlike Paramount, who put all its artistic resources into last year's beautiful but uninvolving Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events ( it was the most visually stunning movie of the year ) , Disney has hedged its bets by going with proven territory. The Narnia books by C.S. Lewis are bona fide staples of what used to be called 'junior literature' and have a devoted following. But even with that head start, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe lacks the visual panache of Lemony Snickett's and doesn't have the dark beauty of the Harry Potter's. Worse, there is not a single moment that takes your breath away. It's a very carefully crafted, workmanlike fantasy to be sure—a sort of bloodless Lord of the Rings for tweens. And even though it wasn't nearly as magical as I would have liked ( and visualized for myself when reading the book ) , that doesn't stop me from highly recommending it.
I admit that my expectations, unlike other films of this kind, were exceedingly high. The Lion, the Witch ... was one of my favorite childhood books and I've eagerly followed every television and film version waiting for The One that could match my imagination. Though this still hasn't done it, it's come close.
We begin with four siblings, Peter and Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who are sent to live in the country during the London Blitz. They're stashed at the many-roomed estate ( it's like Manderly in Rebecca ) of the eccentric Professor Kirke ( Jim Broadbent, who makes what is basically a cameo appearance ) . Sibling rivalries, boredom and the scolding of the clichéd nasty housekeeper lead to an illicit game of hide and seek. The youngest, the perky optimistic Lucy ( played by the perfectly named Georgie Henley ) , jumps into a large, looming wardrobe and after pushing through the folds of the fur coats stored there finds herself in the mythical Narnia. In Narnia, Lucy learns from her new friend, the faun Mr. Tumnus ( James McAvoy ) it is always winter but never Christmas. That's because the evil White Queen ( Tilda Swinton ) has cursed the forested, rocky terrain, frozen its rivers ( and her foes ) and seized power.
Soon Lucy returns with the others ( sensibly wearing the purloined fur coats—PETA's not going to be happy about that ) and before long all are caught up in a looming battle between good and evil. This battle has long been foretold in Narnia and it is the appearance of the four—the 'sons of Adam' and 'daughters of Eve' that signals its beginning. The White Witch certainly isn't going to go without a fight and relies on the dark creatures of the night and the 'deep magic' to help her while the kids have the fauns, badgers, the hunky centaurs, the eagles, and especially Aslan the fearsome lion ( voiced by Liam Neeson ) to help in their defense. At first Peter and Susan resist the call to arms ( 'We're not heroes, we're from Finchley' Susan the practical one says when faced with the challenge ) , but soon, spurred on by Lucy ( the heart of the story ) , the kids go after their destiny. Essentially, once the foursome are in Narnia, the film's a series of adventure sequences—not unlike Disney's much-likeable In Search of the Castaways—culminating in the battle.
The four siblings are played by actors who sport those perfect English accents, manners and milk-white, freckled complexions and big puffy Macaulay Culkin lips yet they're not nauseatingly cute. Distinct personalities emerge though none of them has the immediate rapport with the audience that the Harry Potter actors did ( neither did the kids in Lemony Snickett's ) . It's going to take a second film for these characters to truly connect with the audience. Understandably, it's the supporting fantasy figures that make the greatest impression—the bickering, digitally created badgers ( voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French ) , the sly fox ( voiced by Ruperet Everett ) , Philip the fey horse ( voiced by Philip Steuer ) , Swinton as the strident, impatient nasty witch, and her much beleaguered servant, Ginarrbrik ( Kiran Shah ) . The exception is Neeson as Aslan—only because his voice is so recognizable that each time the digitally created lion spoke, visions of Neeson danced in my head.
Director Andrew Adamson ( of the Shrek movies ) has handed Disney what is sure to be a crowd pleaser, though I'm not sure if that crowd will include the Christian right. Though the film is being marketed to Evangelicals in the hopes of creating another blockbuster ala Passion of the Christ, the movie itself downplays what many have interpreted as Lewis's Christian symbolism and it doesn't have the creepy elitism of the Left Behind series or Passion ( a horror film disguised as epic ) . And what parents won't want to take their kids to see a movie in which their cinematic counterparts are handed swords and knives and encouraged to kill as part of their duty? Lord of the Rings Lite indeed.
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With the success of Capote, which deals with the gay southern writer's chronicle of the Clutter family murders, In Cold Blood, the Music Box presents a new print of Richard Brooks' chilling 1967 movie based on Capote's book. Filmed in stark black and white in a plain, almost documentary style, and at many of the actual locations, this has to be one of the most disturbing movies ever made, all the more so because of Robert Blake's mesmerizing performance as the killer Perry Smith and his offhand counterpart expertly acted by Scott Wilson. They are supported by John Forsythe as the detective and Paul Stewart as Jensen, Capote's pseudo alter ego. But Jensen isn't supposed to really be Capote. Rather, he's the film's conscience—and its one misstep. A superlative, atmospheric jazz score by Quincy Jones ( that STILL hasn't been released on CD ) pervades the entire movie. Plays Dec. 9-15.
See www.musicboxtheatre.com .
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Sneak Preview: A week before out director Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha hits theaters here, Chicago audiences are invited to see it at a sneak preview on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. In addition to the movie, three of Colleen Atwood's lavish costumes from the film will be on display. The screening will benefit film education programs at the Gene Siskel Film Center. General admission tickets are $20. Further information at 312-846-2800 or www.siskelfilmcenter.com
Coming up: Brokeback Mountain reviews and features!
