Closet Sci-Fi Geek

Movies: Does Narnia Live Up to the Hype?

Gosh…I’m not quite sure how to say this. I’m a huge fan of The Chronicles of Narnia books. These were my favorite books as a child. I read them over and over again. I still have my worn and weathered Narnia boxed set in my bookshelf…it’s probably 25 years old now.

But I left my viewing of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” with mixed feelings. The movie was great, and I really liked it a lot, and yet, I am left feeling somewhat hollow and empty, as if something was missing.

And I guess that would be the essence of my review - the film was really really good, but not mindblowing.

Maybe my expectations are simply too high now. “The Lord of the Rings” films really raised the bar, in my mind. Those films were beyond expectations - almost as perfect as they could have been. There’s a reason why “Return of the King” won an Academy Award. It set the standard for fantasy that actually took itself seriously.

This first installment of the “Narnia” films on the other hand, lacks that extra “oomph” and quality that would really set it apart as a great film. It’s a classic, but more like “Harry Potter” in tone and execution - more childlike, I suppose.

Which is really alright. After all, “Narnia” is for children, ultimately. And it’s the children in the film that really make this movie stand out. Lucy, in particular, is played to exquisite perfection by 9-year-old Georgie Henley. She is absolutely astonishing and carries the film.

All the other children are also fantastic (even sniveling Edmund, who is truly annoying in the book version). Overall, it’s the casting that saves this film. Some have complained about the choice of Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, I found her absolutely “chilling” (pardon the snow reference). She just kicks ass. In the final battle scene, she wields two swords and would give Darth Maul a run for his money.

The film is a little slow to start. (I might have enjoyed this pace more, however, if it weren’t for the multiple groups of antsy teenages milling around my seating area changing their minds over where to sit for the first half-hour.) Once the story starts rolling, it picks up speed and just gets better and better as it continues.

The climax (in case you hadn’t heard) is this absolutely stunning battle scene, and this is one part of the film that does rival the Tolkien films in quality.

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is a tough story to tell in one film and still keep the sense of scope and epic quality. The plotline stays close to the book (without being excruciating about it as with the first “Harry Potter” film). The appearance of Aslan still felt a little abrupt to me, and I was left wondering about timelines and how Peter was able to amass an army in what seemed like a few hours. (I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I read the books.) Minor complaints aside, I can’t imagine how they could have done better with the plot without ruining the integrity of the story.

As to the question of special effects - once again, my reviews are mixed. Some of the talking animals were amazingly life-like. Talking beavers are hard to do well, and these worked. It seems to me, however, that the effects team who handled the creatures and animals with such aplomb must have been different from the team handling background scenery and larger scale effects - this is where “Narnia” suffers. (Backdrops were a bit obvious in some points, and the river scene was just not well done at all.)

In spite of a few complaints, by the end of the movie I was won over. It used to be that fantasy films were box office jokes. (Anyone remember “Willow”?) I am so glad to be living in a time where technology allows us to bring these classic stories to life.

Now I’m just hoping this does well enough that we can see “Prince Caspian” (the next installment) get made. It is the later books in the series that were actually my favorites, and more fantasy onscreen can’t hurt, so let’s keep the franchise going.

Another One Bites the Dust…Actually, Two

And the arbitrary cancellations commence…Threshold is now out…as well as Alias.

I’m going to vent about TV networks a second. They are run by morons. It’s not that Threshold was this amazing show. It wasn’t. This was not Must See TV. It was just…OK. In a few episodes, it had gotten a bit formulaic, but it wasn’t bad.

But blame Brannon Braga for that overly polished sci-fi thing he does, that on the surface looks good but ultimately ends up killing the franchise. (Can we say Star Trek?) This type of sci-fi just isn’t compelling enough to draw in anything more than the die-hard sci-fi viewer, desperate for a space fix.

It would be appropriate for the Sci-Fi channel, not CBS. Unfortunately, the Sci-Fi channel isn’t so kind to its middle of the road shows either. Alas, such sci-fi has no home anymore, not even in syndication, it seems.

Alias, on the other hand, was a popular show that just got killed thanks to poor casting decisions, tired writing, and scheduling snafus. Alias used to be one of the best shows on television. That is, until they killed Vaughn off (or did they???). Regardless, Alias even with its faults is still one of the better shows on television, but the constant schedule shuffling was taking its toll.

It seems like someone wanted to kill it. Congratulations. I hope you’re happy.

What happened to normal TV seasons anyway? They would start in September and end sometime in May (the school year). In that time, the show would STAY PUT. They’d give it a year. They wouldn’t move it around to multiple time slots or cancel it after four episodes (remember the Wonderfalls tragedy?).

Now, if a show doesn’t immediately pull in some sort of “audience” - which we’re all dubious of…do you know anyone with a Neilson box? - then it’ll get axed immediately. Or, if it’s lucky, it’ll get moved around a few times to confuse viewers as much as possible and then they’ll ax it.

TV executives need to calm the heck down. Shows need to breathe, like fine wine. Stick them in a time slot, and leave them there for a year. Then review during the summer. There’s no point in canceling so quickly. The costs involved in initial production, casting, set development, and promotion must be enormous. It can’t make fiscal sense to cancel TV shows so wantonly.

When your show is doing well in a time slot - KEEP it there. Don’t keep changing it every season. People are busy. We don’t have time to keep up with your producer ADD.

And then they wonder why cable TV has gotten so compelling. Duh.