“Things never happen the same way twice, dear one …”

This had the benefit to begin with over the first that I don’t really remember the BBC’s adaptation of it way back when – it certainly has nowhere near as huge a place in my heart as their “Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” at any rate. Neither do I particularly remember the book that it comes from … so I came to it I guess much like most of its target audience.

But dear me, did this strike me as a mess. I think it first started to lose me when Lucy declares, “Oh my gosh, he is so cute!” The movie just seems desperate to keep modern ADHD kids’ eyes on the screen and too often it stoops to anachronistic behaviour that simply destroys any hope the movie could have for longevity. Even I can forgive such liberties for certain kids’ movies, I mean they deserve a brainless break from the world as much as anybody … but this is Narnia … this should be the Narnia series of movies, and they should be getting it right. They did this in the first movie – it speaks volumes of how impressed I am by that that on repeat viewings I have come to like it almost as much (if not more at times) as that wonderful BBC version. Here, I don’t know, perhaps its part the fault of lesser source material (though I doubt that) … it seems to be taking too many shortcuts for the studio’s sake when it should be engaging the audience’s imagination just as the books did … even if that means a little work on their part.

The rest of the movie is all spectacle, one giant Massive-style fight sequence, and any remote possibility of emotion just gets lost in it for me. There’s something in the ending, the sadness of Susan and Peter growing up and away from all things Narnia and whatnot, that just begins to work on my heart … but its nowhere near enough to make me forget the wasted two hours that precede it.

Tags: battle, cuties, fantasy, talking animals

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under 2 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.