...a fascinating, visually compelling, and totally engrossing rendering of a well-loved classic.
I have to admit this film moved the Wife-O-Meter and me a good deal more than the trailers had led us to expect it would. It is grand filmmaking on the grandest scale, intimate in its opening scenes with the children and spectacular in its closing scenes of battle. Despite its 140-minute running time, nowhere does the pace slacken, and nowhere is the viewer left out of the story. I was a little disappointed in the music, the background score somewhat less than exhilarating and at times a little too gushing, but that was about my only concern. The CGI, animatronics, creature design, makeup (for which it won an Academy Award), lighting, matte paintings, and other special visual effects are convincing without ever overpowering the storyline; the location shooting in New Zealand, Guatemala, Poland, and the Czech Republic are on an imposing scale; the script sticks fairly close to the book; and, as I've said, the acting is splendid throughout. This is a beautiful picture and a joy to behold.
Video:
The engineers preserve the film's original 2.35:1 dimensions, the ratio measuring about 2.18:1 across my widescreen HD television, given a small degree of overscan. There is a touch of grain in some of the nighttime scenes, like the opening shots of the bombing of London, and there is occasionally a bit of glassiness to facial tones. That said, this high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer is one of the most perfect imaginable: sharp definition, rich colors, natural tints, and excellent detailing. The video quality does justice to the film's visual delights.
Audio:
The audio engineers at BV were also up to the task of reproducing the sound in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround. The sonics are well balanced and warmly characterized, with strong dynamics, deep bass, a realistic midrange, and well-extended highs. The directional effects add a note of excitement to almost every scene, yet they never impinge on one's enjoyment of the story by calling attention to themselves.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc special edition contains the feature presentation and several bonus items. The main things are two commentaries, one with director Andrew Adamson and the four children stars--William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley; and a second commentary with the production team of director Adamson, production designer Roger Ford, and producer Mark Johnson. In addition, the first disc contains "Discover Narnia" fun facts, pop-up pieces of information from co-producer Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis. I wish there had been more of them, though. Then, there are a little over four minutes' worth of cute bloopers; twenty-four scene selections (with a chapter insert, a navigational guide, and several picture postcards); and Sneak Peeks at nine other Disney/Buena Vista titles. The disc provides English, French, and Spanish as spoken language options, with French and Spanish subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.
The bonuses on disc two are divided into two categories. The first is called "Creating Narnia." Here, we find "Chronicles of a Director," a thirty-seven-minute documentary; "The Children's Magical Journey," twenty-six minutes on the young stars; and "Evolution of an Epic," which includes "C.S. Lewis, From One Man's Mind," "Cinematic Storytellers," (eight chapters), "Creating Creatures" (eleven chapters), and "Anatomy of a Scene: The Melting River." Of the various chapter segments, I enjoyed "Creating Creatures" best, two-to-nine minute passages that show us how the various creatures in the film were designed, made-up, and costumed.
The second section is called "Creatures, Land, and Legends." Here, we find "Creatures of the World" (eleven chapters), more background on the assorted mythological beings in the film; and "Explore Narnia," a map of the country whereon one can highlight different locations and get information and pictorial descriptions of the places. I counted five locations, but there may be more I overlooked. Finally, there is "Legends in Time," a timeline to the events in the story, with audio narration. As always with a Disney special-edition DVD, getting through the many extras requires a good deal of clicking around.
The two discs come housed in a double, slim-line keep case, further enclosed in a cardboard slipcover designed to resemble and open like the wardrobe closet in the picture. It's quite an attractive proposition.
Parting Thoughts:
J.R.R. Tolkien never liked his friend Lewis's "Narnia" books and told him so. Tolkien did not think it was appropriate for Lewis to throw around mythological creatures so willy-nilly as he did. But Lewis's books caught on sooner than Tolkien's, and today the two fantasy series are probably equally well respected, albeit probably by different age groups. Yes, Tolkien is more sophisticated and more mature, but Lewis has the advantage of innocence and simplicity.
C.S. Lewis dedicated "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" to his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, as follows: "My dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C.S. Lewis."
Video:
The engineers preserve the film's original 2.35:1 dimensions, the ratio measuring about 2.18:1 across my widescreen HD television, given a small degree of overscan. There is a touch of grain in some of the nighttime scenes, like the opening shots of the bombing of London, and there is occasionally a bit of glassiness to facial tones. That said, this high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer is one of the most perfect imaginable: sharp definition, rich colors, natural tints, and excellent detailing. The video quality does justice to the film's visual delights.
Audio:
The audio engineers at BV were also up to the task of reproducing the sound in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround. The sonics are well balanced and warmly characterized, with strong dynamics, deep bass, a realistic midrange, and well-extended highs. The directional effects add a note of excitement to almost every scene, yet they never impinge on one's enjoyment of the story by calling attention to themselves.
Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc special edition contains the feature presentation and several bonus items. The main things are two commentaries, one with director Andrew Adamson and the four children stars--William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley; and a second commentary with the production team of director Adamson, production designer Roger Ford, and producer Mark Johnson. In addition, the first disc contains "Discover Narnia" fun facts, pop-up pieces of information from co-producer Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis. I wish there had been more of them, though. Then, there are a little over four minutes' worth of cute bloopers; twenty-four scene selections (with a chapter insert, a navigational guide, and several picture postcards); and Sneak Peeks at nine other Disney/Buena Vista titles. The disc provides English, French, and Spanish as spoken language options, with French and Spanish subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.
The bonuses on disc two are divided into two categories. The first is called "Creating Narnia." Here, we find "Chronicles of a Director," a thirty-seven-minute documentary; "The Children's Magical Journey," twenty-six minutes on the young stars; and "Evolution of an Epic," which includes "C.S. Lewis, From One Man's Mind," "Cinematic Storytellers," (eight chapters), "Creating Creatures" (eleven chapters), and "Anatomy of a Scene: The Melting River." Of the various chapter segments, I enjoyed "Creating Creatures" best, two-to-nine minute passages that show us how the various creatures in the film were designed, made-up, and costumed.
The second section is called "Creatures, Land, and Legends." Here, we find "Creatures of the World" (eleven chapters), more background on the assorted mythological beings in the film; and "Explore Narnia," a map of the country whereon one can highlight different locations and get information and pictorial descriptions of the places. I counted five locations, but there may be more I overlooked. Finally, there is "Legends in Time," a timeline to the events in the story, with audio narration. As always with a Disney special-edition DVD, getting through the many extras requires a good deal of clicking around.
The two discs come housed in a double, slim-line keep case, further enclosed in a cardboard slipcover designed to resemble and open like the wardrobe closet in the picture. It's quite an attractive proposition.
Parting Thoughts:
J.R.R. Tolkien never liked his friend Lewis's "Narnia" books and told him so. Tolkien did not think it was appropriate for Lewis to throw around mythological creatures so willy-nilly as he did. But Lewis's books caught on sooner than Tolkien's, and today the two fantasy series are probably equally well respected, albeit probably by different age groups. Yes, Tolkien is more sophisticated and more mature, but Lewis has the advantage of innocence and simplicity.
C.S. Lewis dedicated "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" to his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, as follows: "My dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C.S. Lewis."
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]18104[/release]