The Disappoint of Narnia

I am just home from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And I simply must express how disappointed I am in the whole venture. This past summer I went back to reread the series - for partial want of prepping myself before the movie came and simple desire to immerse myself again in the story. I never got past The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The book wasn't bad, it just bored me. I'm not sure if that's because I'm more mature now (haHA!) or if it is just that pedantic. Sadly enough, that question has been brought to the forefront of my mind tonight.

The movie adaptation begins wonderfully, my heart swelled and my eyes brimmed with tears as I watched a Briton family torn apart by the constant Blitzkrieg. I shan't bore the 2 people who read this with any kind of real review -- I once thought I'd do that in my life and realized I'd much rather write about parts of a movie instead of the whole thing. Anyway, Moriarty at AICN has a review here that puts any of my efforts to shame, perhaps including those which are to follow. He is an excellent writer and, I feel, a savy mind in the realm of film.

And yet despite the movie's delightful, heartfelt setup -- once Narnia is fully revealed, I became so freakin' bored. Liam Neeson is boring as Aslan, Aslan is boring, the constant close ups of Lucy are boring, the poor lad who plays Peter is boring as he struggles to act dramatically with a sword, and the ultimate pay off is just so gobsmackingly boring. I don't disconnect from movies often. In fact, it takes a lot to bring me out of the world I go into when I watch a film. The Chronicles made me disconnect so easily that was quite startling.

This isn't to say I didn't like the film. As I said, it started off wonderfully...full of magic and promise. And there are truly magnificent touches such as Lucy and Mr. Tumnus, the Secret Police, the White Witch, the centaurs, the Battle set up and beginning, and a few family dynamics. I think the film is entirely worth seeing if but for only one of those moments. However, for all of those moments, I walked out of the theatre not wanting to revisit Narnia. Aslan's sacrifice is the stuff of heartache and I couldn't have cared less. There is no unity is this movie. Dare I say, there is no magic.

I have yet to say this, despite my frivilous wants of becoming a director, but tonight, as I watched various scenes, I thought to myself that I wished I had the chance to play with the scene -- for editing, dynamics, movement and voice. I wanted the chance to see if I could fix whatever was wrong. I wanted to stand up and throttle whomever I could (preferably the assholes sitting behind me who kept up a relatively quite rundown of the film behind me) for the nothingness of Narnia.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is no literary masterpiece. It's a quaint, awfully short tale which has some cool stuff in it. That's it. I came out of the theatre thinking the book and the movie are relatively the same in encouraging a reaction of apathy from me. Clearly both are children's stories. Yet does that allow them to be pedantic and solely for children? I agrue, that, no it does not. I bawled my eyes out during The Little Princess, I have no problem investing myself in a children's tale. The world of children and adulthood are not separate. They are different, but not separate. And I simply don't understand why there continues to be a separation of ideas, thoughts, hopes and wishes between those worlds. To be fair, I don't think neither Lewis nor Adamson (director) left out the intertwining of those worlds. There trills and touches of such promise in both creations. There are the briefest comments of loyalty, bravery, compassion, and even the much preached sacrifice and treachery. Yet neither men explore those touches of the soul. And that is the source of my disappointment! I wanted so much more from this film. How sad am I not to have it.