Coming of age in a wardrobe world

After the Disney and Walden Media logos dissolve into blackness, the picture fades in to reveal the London night sky cluttered with German warplanes dropping missiles onto the helpless city. I look at my ticket to check if I am in the right theater. Yes, the ticket says The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, not Sky Captain: The Sequel. The visuals of the Blitzkrieg are stunning and my mouth drops as the Pevensie family rushes into their air raid shelter. I am stunned as Peter angrily yells, "Why can’t you just do as you’re told?" to Edmund, who has fallen on the floor of their shelter, clutching a framed photograph of their father. The credits roll over elegantly framed shots of the countryside, and I see more things that were not expounded upon in the book. I realize something at this moment – that Andrew Adamson’s imagination (the man behind Shrek 1 and 2) is much better than my own and the C.S. Lewis classic has finally come to life as a cinematic event.

Almost everybody has read this timeless story as a child – four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, are sent away by train for safety during the war to live with strangers in the country (like most of London’s youth). In the enormous house they are sent to live in, the baby of the family, Lucy (the cute and charming Georgie Henley), discovers by accident a wardrobe that transports her to a winter wonderland where mythological animals walk and talk and where she and her siblings are the royalty that will save the land from the evil queen, the White Witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton, in her most cryogenically delicious performance).

Most of us have read the book with the Christian allegory in mind, C.S. Lewis being a celebrated Oxford professor, but the film is more open to interpretation. If you want to see Aslan the lion as Jesus, you could, and if you want to have an adventure into a new magical universe sans the theology, you certainly can.

It is safe to say that most of us read this book decades before the movie version came out, so, for us, the world of Narnia is totally believable and has existed in our heads for years and years. Then it is an understatement to say that there is great anticipation for this new film version that has finally been released. The estate of C.S. Lewis, now managed by his stepson, Douglas Gresham (co-producer of the movie), had been very particular on when and who would adapt the film, and it has taken so long because they felt that the cinematic technology had not yet come of age to create an accurate representation of Aslan and his land. Enter Peter Jackson with his more-than-successful Lord of the Rings trilogy to pave the way for fellow New Zealander, Andrew Adamson. Add to that the gorgeous New Zealand landscape, the technology of WETA, a chance to grab a myriad LOTR fans aching for a new literary fantasy, infinite merchandising opportunities, and new characters to autograph in a comic book convention, and bingo – we have a greenlight.

As the four siblings finally visit Narnia together and their journey towards overthrowing the White Witch’s Christmas-less winter dictatorship continues, we get to dig deeper into their characters and see the obstacles they have to face in order to complete their arcs as children coming of age. The greatest change occurs with Edmund (played by the juicy Skandar Keynes, who strangely happens to be the great-great-great-great grandson of Charles Darwin). He is the surly, spiteful, stubborn adolescent, who is easily lured to the Witch’s dark side by extra-tasty enchanted Turkish delight, and who is willing to sell out his brother and sisters for more of it. He goes through the most hell in the story, until a confrontation with Aslan – a confessional where we never hear what is said. Eldest brother, Peter (Jamie Oliver look-alike, William Moseley), also does a lot of growing-up. We literally see him becoming a man, from the pasty-faced cherub on the train to the pretty-boy high king trying to be brave enough to lead the war against the Witch and her army. Lucy, on the other hand, learns about true friendship as she tries to save the faun, Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy), just as he saved her life in return. And the eternal pessimist, Susan, (Anna Popplewell) who plays the rational grown-up in the family dynamic, learns how to have faith in her siblings and to have some fun.

The most wonderful moments in the film are actually the ones the filmmakers developed themselves, not the sequences taken literally from the book – from the opening war sequence, to the beautiful train ride, to the melting waterfall scene, and to the battle that mirrors the blitz war sequence. The scenes that are almost word for word from the book are good, but not spectacular, mostly due to pacing problems. But I give kudos to Andrew Adamson for pulling it off despite the pressures of living up to the book and making his first live action film. He is no Peter Jackson, but he deserves as much praise. It is hard enough to make engaging a story of four children leading a war with a herd of animals beside them (from rhinoceroses to centaurs, unicorns to polar bears). It is even more demanding to make exciting a film wherein most of the viewers already know how the story ends. But he did it.

Now we have to talk about Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson). He enters the frame in the last third of the film, but his presence is made known all throughout by the characters who talk about him. We see how the Witch quakes at the mention of him. We see how the kids light up to his name. And when we meet him for the first time, when he finally steps out of that red tent in front of a kneeling army and the Pevensies, it is well worth the wait. He is majestic, realistic, and he is definitely not The Lion King. You know that Aslan is the King of Narnia (even though flashes of Qui-Gon Jinn sometimes come to mind). The scene at the Stone Table is as horrifying as the scourging at the pillar scene in Mel Gibson’s The Passion. Hence, this movie is definitely not for kids below 10 years old, unless you want to comfort them from nightmares for the next five years, or unless you are unfortunate enough (like I was) to wind up sitting next to one whining with fear during the latter part of the film.

Another weakness of the film, aside from pacing, is in some of its production design. The Narnian backdrop of winter is not visual candy; it resembles more of a fake Christmas tree yard sale that has been showered with artificial snow polymers. The White Witch’s castle just looks like a matte painting of an ice palace from a ‘80s fantasy film, and, contrasted with the other CGI effects, this stands out like a frozen sore thumb. Otherwise, the design for spring was marvelous, the way flowers and greens blossomed quickly throughout the forest. As for costumes, the Witch’s outfits looked uncomfortable and you may notice Tilda Swinton slightly struggle in them. (Although her make-up is wonderful, and her battle attire was quite cool as it looked like she was wearing Aslan’s mane on her bosom.) Her hair also looked too much like dreadlocks at times, and I wondered how Rastafarian her hairdresser was.

In the beginning of the movie, when the Pevensies are kids who try to be grown-up in the Professor’s house, we believe that they are still just kids. But when they are in Narnia dressed in Aslan-adorned armor, ready to fight the battle, you really do believe that they are the kings and queens who are supposed to sit on the thrones of Cair Paravel. The line that Peter says: "I think you’ve made a mistake. We’re not heroes," becomes false as we, the audience, become like one of the Narnians and believe that they are heroes. Thank Aslan that the film did remarkably well in its opening weekend (more than $65 million, Disney was hoping for $60 million), prompting the studios to greenlight the next book in the series, "Prince Caspian" for a December 2007 release. It is also a relief that they are releasing the films in the order that Lewis wrote them, and not in the chronological order of the Narnia stories, as most box sets arrange them.

Two hours pass and there is a phoenix flying above two armies marching to fight one another across a violently green meadow. The bird explodes into a flying fiery blur that signals the start to another war between good and evil, and I realize something else. C.S. Lewis’ stories are so timeless because, as children, we all often feel helpless in real life, since we cannot control events like war or oppression, but, in Narnia, the Pevensie children are powerful, strong, heroic, and they literally save the world. And through the magic of movies like this, we can too.