Well, I've just seen The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and I found myself a lot more impressed than I thought I'd be, considering this is a film aimed at children - or so I thought. It turns out this film was made for the entire family and I think the author of the books on which the film is based, C.S. Lewis, would be happy with the outcome. Narnia opened on December 9th and is a great start to the possible 7 film series (total) that may be coming from the original book series.

Now I have to admit I haven't actually read any of these novels but after seeing this movie I have a feeling I really should. So as far as accuracy in Narnia as related to the book goes I can't make any comments, but as far as a movie goes I feel this is definitely one of the finer films I've seen this year.

The movie starts out with an air raid in England during World War II where the four Pevenise children barely escape danger by fleeing to a bomb shelter which prompts their mother to evacuate them to safety by sending them away. So the four children - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley) - find themselves in a large country home occupied by an old professor (Jim Broadbent) and his mean housekeeper Mrs. MacReady (Elizabeth Hawthorn). The biggest rule to the house is to be quite and don't interrupt the professor, but kids will be kids and boredom gets the best of them, helping to create enough noise to get them running to hide from the housekeeper and right into the wardrobe upstairs in an otherwise empty room. Once inside they find themselves in a strange new land covered in snow and occupied by strange animals that talk and creatures they have only read about in fantasy novels (including Gryphons, Ogres, Giants, and Dwarves to name just a few).

So for reasons I won't divulge, the children are united with king Asland (voice by Liam Neeson) and help him battle the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) who is trying to keep her stolen rule over the land, which leads to the greatest battle of good versus evil Narnia has ever seen. Now as I have already stated this is a great film, but the first thing that really needs to be pointed out is the acting is superb. It's great to see children with as much talent as the four in this film have.

They all bring something to the table to convince you of their family relationship and the courage and skills that develop in each of them, starting with the oldest Peter who convinces you of the seriousness in which he took the promise of looking after his siblings that he made to his mother, and although he gets slightly annoyed at times with his brother and sisters you can see the love he has for them in his overbearing protectiveness.

Then there's his sister Susan who really pulls her character of a know-it-all off perfectly while also showing her commitment to and courage for her family. Her younger brother Edmund's character of a defiant child who thinks he doesn't need direction from his older brother definitely helps bring realism to his character and shows the irritating side that all children can have from time to time.

Then there's the youngest of the four Lucy, who in my opinion is the best actor in this film. It's impressive to see someone this young possess the skills that she clearly does. You see the character of Lucy evolve drastically in Narnia, from the beginning when she's calling out in fear for her mother to further into the film when she's sobbing over the loss of a friend but showing the bravery only an adult would posses to the end when her courage and positive attitude shine the brightest. I really can't give enough praise to this young actress, she really guided you through the film emotionally, when she was sad you'd feel sadness and when she was happy or full of pride you were feeling the same.

There really isn't anything but positive things to say about the overall acting in this film, The White Witch's character was beautifully played, her meanness and evil came through perfectly, and Liam Neeson's voice over work for Asland the lion was commendable, I didn't think the character they created for him wasn't forthright and wild enough as he is "an untamed lion" but the digital work they did on him was extremely detailed.

This leads me to the computer generated work in Narnia - it's clear that all the teams that collaborated in this all knew what they were doing, between them and the costume designer (Isis Mussenden) the looks they came up with are definitely the film's strongest point.

Really the only negative comment I have about this film is the lighting, or rather the lack there of in too many scenes. There were many times I found myself straining to see, and I'm not sure why they've done this. It's very obvious there's a lot of work put into the scenery and costumes so I don't think they were trying to be cheap but whatever it is I hope they don't do it in any future films in this series.