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PLOT: Four British siblings displaced to the country during the London Blitz of WWII discover the magical entrance to a fantastical but troubled world hidden in the back of a wardrobe. Their harrowing adventures help them grow up.
C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles Of Narnia is to children what J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings is to adults -- a glorious way to interpret the real world through elaborate fantasy, mythology and fairytales.
So it is only appropriate that the first feature-film version of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is a childlike answer to The Fellowship Of The Ring. I mean "childlike" in the best sense, evoking a sense of awe and innocence in the face of challenges. This is art as well as entertainment and it operates at a sophisticated level.
While Andrew Adamson's live-action Narnia film does not quite thrill me quite like Peter Jackson's first Lord Of The Rings film did, it is good. Very good, indeed.
It is also a remarkable accomplishment because it hews so faithfully to Lewis' book, which was the first Narnia novel published (although the later prequel, The Magician's Nephew, was then meant to be read first as Book One).
You might even argue that co-writer and director Adamson, working with a screenplay credited also to Ann Peacock and the team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, is more faithful to Lewis than Jackson was to Tolkien.
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That is true even though the Narnia film opens with the German bombing of London in World War II, the reason the four Pevensie children (played by Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell and William Moseley) are sent to the countryside. Lewis dealt with the issue in a single paragraph. Adamson wanted international audiences (meaning Americans) to understand the context for the upheaval.
In addition, the film actually shows the great battle -- with jaw-dropping intensity and scenes of unfettered action and danger -- that Lewis merely hinted at before letting children fill in the blanks with their own imaginations and then wrapping it up at the end through Lucy's eyes.
The tone of the Narnia film is also different, in part due to Lewis' lean, simple style, in contrast to Tolkien's dense, more elaborate writing. Narnia operates on an intimate level.
The tale presented in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is about growing up, without losing a child's glee of discovery. So it is the youngest, Lucy Pevensie, who first discovers the parallel universe of Narnia when she ventures through the back of a wardrobe that sits in in the home of intimidating Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent).
Lucy is our spirit guide, in a sense, as she is for her siblings. As played with such wide-eyed wonder by the charismatic youngster Georgie Henley, Lucy is the one who allows the audience to willingly suspend our disbelief in a world sung into existence by the Lion named Aslan.
Through her, we accept that Narnia has been caught in the icy grip of the villainous White Queen (Tilda Swinton unleashed and loving the evil) and that it is populated by giants and dwarfs, by elfs and fauns and by centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, minoboars and a woodland of talking animals.
Some are real, at least in part, such as the Faun, Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy). Some are computer generated (the photo-realistic Aslan, voiced by Liam Neeson). All are convincing in a setting in which Adamson (known for directing the animated Shrek flicks) tried to make as real as possible by shooting as much as he could without digital effects.
The result is magic with real meaning.
BOTTOM LINE: Beautifully realized, thrilling and scary to watch and bursting with imaginative sequences, this faithful adaptation of C.S. Lewis' children's classic hits the mark.
Behind the Chronicles
* C.S. Lewis called his work "fairy stories" and published The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe in 1950, although it eventually became Book Two with the later publication of the prequel, The Magician's Nephew, in 1955.
* The seven Narnia books have sold 85 million copies in 29 languages. It is now ranked second to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter as the most popular book series ever.
* Lewis died on Nov. 22, 1963, the same day as Aldous Huxley and John F. Kennedy.
* If there is a sequel to the first live action feature film, it will be Book Four, Prince Caspian (1951), because it is the only other Narnia book with all four Pevensie kids.
* Wardrobe director Andrew Adamson (of Shrek and Shrek 2) has not committed to directing the sequel yet because he is still shell-shocked from the first one. "It's definitely an option (but) had you asked me that a few weeks ago, I'd have told you I'm never going to direct another film in my life."
* Adamson shot most of Wardrobe in chronological sequence "because I knew that the kids were going to grow." As a result, their spurts look natural. Skandar Keynes, as Edmund, shot up six inches during production.
* The 1988 Canadian IMAX film Beavers inspired the filmmakers when they designed the lodge in Wardrobe.
* Of course, not everything is realistic. Mr. Beaver's collection of Toby beer mugs -- modified with beaver heads instead of goofy humans -- are displayed in the lodge.
* The Narnians were created by the WETA Workshop of Aukland, New Zealand, the same place that produced creatures, effects and weapons for The Lord Of The Rings.
* There are about 60 different creature species in Narnia. Half of them, including the centaurs and fauns of Greek mythology, do not occur in nature.
* The final battle in Wardrobe was shot at Flock Hill Station, a rugged, mountainous plateau in New Zealand. Thanks to the magic of digital effects, there are 20,000 individual people or creatures in on the action. More than 1000 crew members worked on the special effects.
* Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund Pevensie, is distantly related to 19th century scientist Charles Darwin, who popularized the theory of evolution.
* Narnia is a creationist myth -- it was sung into existence by the heroic Lion named Aslan, who is willing to sacrifice his life in an attempt to save Edmund.
* Anna Popplewell, who plays Susan Pevensie, is delighted the filmmakers did not Americanize the film's language. So the kids want "sweeties" and not "candies" and Edmund is tempted with Turkish Delight, not gummy bears.
* Tilda Swinton, whose White Queen casts an icy spell over Narnia, is counting on a White Christmas to start this week. "I hope it snows everywhere for this film," she tells the Sun with a mischievous laugh.
(This film is rated PG)