Film: The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Director: Andrew Adamson;
Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anne Popplewell, Tilda Swinton; Rating: **
It is delightful to revisit your childhood fantasies, especially when it is done with such enchanting élan. The Chronicles Of Narnia is that frozen moment in time when life's most precious experiences and emotions de-thaw and flow in a fluent motion of elemental enjoyment.
The Chronicles Of Narnia lacks the weighty wonderment of Harry Potter or The Lord Of Rings, but it has a certain zing to its narration.
A fable-like fantasy about four kids from London during World War II who find themselves transported into a strange and exciting country filled with talking animal and blustering witches, Chronicles Of Narnia conveys a magical but manageable epic sweep.
The two climate schemes, with icy winter being superimposed by a spring-like gait in between, enhance the feeling of being transported into a realm of enchanting extravagance.
{{/usCountry}}The two climate schemes, with icy winter being superimposed by a spring-like gait in between, enhance the feeling of being transported into a realm of enchanting extravagance.
{{/usCountry}}The four kids at the helm and some stupendously professional animation take care of the rest.
If you have read C.S. Lewis' novel you may not be fully content with the way the writer's imagination has been concretised on screen.
Though it is never easy to bring alive the fantasy element in fiction, director Andrew Adamson does a decent job of it. He is specially adept at mingling the animal and human kingdoms as the yin and yang of civilisation.
The sense of spellbinding adventure spills out in controlled measures. The Chronicles Of Narnia doesn't overwhelm your senses with visual spectacle. Nor does it go all out to rivet you to your seats with scene after scene of full-on FX. The approach to the fantasia-material is more deliberate and measured.
No one, least of all, the director, is in a hurry to resolve the battle between the bitter witch Tilda Swinton and the benign animals who take on her might with the help of the four youngsters from Potter space. By the time it is done, the audience and the fable are one and won.