The Cinema Of Narnia!

After the pioneering blockbuster success of The Lord of the Rings, studios were itching for a piece of the epic fantasy pie. One property that immediately came to the mind of any fan of Tolkien was the tale of Narnia by his friend and colleague C.S. Lewis. In 2005 we got The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from Disney. What annoys me more than a little is that in the expansive supplemental documentaries and such not a single person indicates the success of the Peter Jackson movies as the impetus for this movie. What's more they act like filming in New Zealand was difficult but par for the course. It's a small thing, but it annoyed me. 

That said, I really enjoy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as directed by Andrew Adamson. It's at once true to the books and still manages to give the viewer a splendid fantasy epic with more actual violence than I'm sure Lewis would've been comfortable showcasing. In books fights can seem ephemeral whereas the lead up to them is crucial. In film we got to see it and we do here. Peter (William Mosely), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmond (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) are on hand to face off against the White Witch. I cannot take my eyes of Swinton in this role, in which she does what many a movie villain does, and that's steal the show. As good as the animated Aslan is with voice by Liam Neeson no less, this becomes Swinton's movie from the moment she slides up in her demon sleigh. The only real visual competitions she has are those magnificent centaurs who battle on the side of good. This is a heart-warming movie with a message, but it's a pretty decent actioner as well. 

The same crew go at it again in the sequel Prince Caspian. Ben Barnes plays the title role of the displaced prince of Narnia who flees for his life when he becomes superfluous to the tyrant Miraz, leader of the Telmarines, when his actual son is born. This one is pretty dang violent for a movie of this kind. Again, the target audience are those Tolkien fans looking for something between hits of Jackson epics. Our original four are back and after years as kings and queens in Narnia they come with kills. Despite youthful bodies they seem to have retained all the muscle memory they had in Narnia as adults. Peter Dinklage is on hand as Trumpkin the dwarf who seeks the lost kings and queens but doubts their ability to help. Warwick Davis is Nikabrik, a dwarf who has a hard time letting go of the past. Eddie Izzard gives voice to Reepicheep, the mouse with a sword. All the parts are here and they work well, but again this movie owes much of his structure and even some key scenes to the Rings movies. I'm not complaining, but I just wish they'd own it. 

The series gets kicked to the curb by Disney before the third in this trilogy hits the screen. It's up to 20th Century Fox to step in to bring us The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The scope seems smaller for this one than the previous films. It necessarily reminds me of all those Sinbad movies which were great B movie fun, but this is a flicker which has an A movie pedigree. Edmond and Lucy return to Narnia and join Caspian aboard the Dawn Treader to find seven lost lords who fled Narnia when the Telmarines invaded so many years before. They are joined on his adventure by their cousin Eusace (Will Poulter, who does a great job) and Simon Pegg steps in to voice Reepicheep. This one gets a new director in Michale Apted and a screenplay which diverges from the original story in several ways. Some magical hoodoo is added about seven swords and a curse which is attacking all of Narnia if left unchecked. The bits and bobs are mostly here, but the overarching quest for something greater than themselves gets actively muddled. I'm glad this one got made, but I wish it had been a wee bit better. 

And that wraps up my two-month long overview of The Chronicles of Narnia. It's been a treat diving into the Lewis mythology again after decades away from the books and years away from the films. The Narnian books are advertised as children's classics and they are, but there's plenty of richness for any adult to savor in these admittedly somewhat overly reverent yarns. 

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