#3 - The Lion, Witch, and the Wardobe

Summary: fantasy story based on one of CS Lewis' - "Narnia" childrens' book series (written in the 50's). Follows a family of 2 brothers and 2 sisters who stumble into an imaginary world, 'Narnia' which is 'ruled' by an evil witch, but the true king, a mighty lion, helps them to became leaders and rulers of that world. The characters originally created by Lewis, an English writer, represent real characters in the spiritual world e.g. the lion, ''Aslan", represents Christ.

Whats its all about: the children, the 'Pevensie' children (Peter, Edward, Susan, and Lucy), accidentally stumble into a wardrobe - which is like a portal into Narnia. The land of Narnia has a lot of fantasy animals, that can talk (each has its own personalities, and most have taken sides for good or for evil). The land is under a dark cloud (perpetual winter) caused by the White Witch, who is threatened by the arrival of the Pevensie children, and threaten her rule. A lion character, Aslan (voiced brilliantly by Liam Neeson), who created Narnia, helps the children to fulfil their destiny to rule the land. This leads eventually to a battle with the White Witch, and her followers. Narnia fans of the book series, say that this movie is reasonably faithful to the book (although not as close as following movies).

Highlights: themes of sacrifice, courage, and forgiveness are very strong in this film. The scenes involving Peter protecting his brothers and sisters against some evil creatures (wolves), whilst struggling with his own fear, are powerful and insightful.The battle scene at end of the movie is visually impressive with excellent background music, and yet contains no graphic violence (hence the PG rating, although young kids would be scared by some scenes).

Notable Quotes: Edward "there's an army out there that's willing to follow you", Peter "I can't", Edward "Aslan believed in you. So do I'' (faith in each other strengthened them)

Film length: 143 minutes

My rating: 7 and 1/2 out of 10.

Final review: enjoyable movie, with inspiring characters e.g. Narnian creatures, who often display heroism. The movie starts off slowly, but builds momentum towards the end. Some of the characters I found irritating, but others were wonderful and unique. A good film overall, and sets up the series well for following movies, based on the Narnia books.