I just Watched a god damn bloody brilliant film!!

And you wanna know what it is??

It's the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe!!! And its all thanks to DiGi Rewards that I managed to catch an advance screening of this excellent film by Shrek director Andrew Adamson with my dear friend Patricia all for FREE!!! It was really worth it and I just feel like I want to watch this once more in the cinema and help it to get more money than Harry Potter... hahaha.

Seriously, if there's one movie that you have to, got to, must see for this holiday season/month... make it Narnia cause the film will just blow you away with its brilliant imagery and characters that make you feel for them in every way and scenes that just takes your breath away and keep you to the edge of your seats! Narnia IS really THAT GOOD!!!

It would be totally unfair to make comparisons with that mother of all fantasy movies Lord Of The Rings as Narnia is a whole different ball game altogether. C.S Lewis' precious work is eons away from his best friend JRR Tolkien's works. It's not as dark, not as complex and not too wordy, which makes it an excellent fantasy film for children of all ages.

There's no subplots in Narnia and the story is pretty much linear and thats the best because you are not distracted from the main focus of the story and allows you to have time to take in the fantastic special effects and imagery that Adamson had dreamt and visualised for the world of Narnia. The landscapes are absolutely breathtaking! It's been a while since I saw visually stunning landscapes in a movie, never since LOTR.

I have absolutely no complains regarding the actors who played the key characters in the film. Though Georgie Henley, the wonderful actress playing little Lucy Pevensie was a tad annoying to me about halfway through the movie with her constant tears and weeping. But she's suppose to typify the type of woman that was normal in those days during Lewis' times when writing this novel.


Edmund playing a spot of cricket in the real world with his siblings

My favourite characters here has to be Skandar Keynes' Edmund Pevensie (see pictures) and Jim Broadbent as Professor Kirke. Skandar was brilliant portraying the stubborn and headstrong Edmund, his wonderful facial expressions really conveyed the emotions that Edmund would have felt when he realises the wrong that he had done. Jim Broadbent was was great as the lovable Professor Kirke with a secret that he has kept from his four, young charges.


Edmund seems happy to be in the presence of the White Witch's castle. Pity he doesn't know the fate that awaits him



Jim Broadbent as the Professor who seems to have a mysterious secret about the wardrobe. If you've read the books, you'd know too!

Tilda Swinton... what can I say about her? On one hand I felt her portrayal of Jadis was excellent, yet I have to agree that she could actually be a bit more menacing and look graceful and elegant while she's at it. Jadis here seems to be a little bit more brutish than elegant but boy, can she churn out a menacing, piercing, icy cold evil stare! It's the stare that she utilises more to convey her fearsomeness and wrath. But I certainly cannot picture any other actresses that would fit the mould of Jadis the White Witch. Tilda is the White Witch, with her flawless, beautiful fair skin in real life. And after seeing her play a misguided angel in Constantine, I just know she would be perfect as Jadis the moment she was casted in the role. Well done Tilda, and bravo to Adamson for a spot-on casting! Tilda Swinton as the cold, evil Jadis with the steely gaze of menace

CGI Aslan was really good looking too. But Liam Neeson could have done slightly better with the voice acting. I had imagined Aslan's voice to be a bit more deep and husky and a bit older sounding and wise. Nevertheless, he did a commendable job in this and must be applauded for his effort to give voice to one of the most benevolent characters that ever lived in the fantasy realm.

But the best part of the entire movie has to be the final battle scene. A sight to behold. It's an epic battle worthy of the LOTR: Return of the King. Arguably one of the best battlefield scenes that I had ever seen in a movie. The build up to the final battle was fantastic, it really kept the audience at the edge of their seats. You felt like you are involved in every single decision that Peter Pevensie had to make that will decide the outcome of the classic battle against the forces of good and evil. Really fantastic.

Of course, every film, no matter how brilliant they are, will have its weak points as well but thankfully, it did not overshadow the film and was not obvious to ruin the movie. Some scenes look almost like watercolour effects, some scenes the actors were in did not gel with the effects - to the untrained eye, it makes no difference but alas, I had taken a course in filmmaking so I was every bit aware of the detail and could detect certain parts where it was plain obvious that it was unreal. The most important reason why special effects are utilised in movies are so that they can lend a sense of actuality and "realness" to the scenes. Meaning - special effects are used to make things look believably real to people that they actually thought it was real. But thats just a technical hang up that I have so don't worry about it too much. Overall, on a whole, THIS IS ONE REALLY DARN FREAKING COOL FILM!!!

Support this film! Watch the original and BUY the original. I sure hope Adamson will follow Peter Jackson in coming up with a special extended version! It would be so priceless! And maybe he will improve a bit on the special effects while doing the transfer to DVD. Who knows? One things for sure: I'll definitely be getting the DVD!

Can't wait for more Chronicles of Narnia films! And while waiting for it, I guess now is as good as a time as any to get started on reading the books again. Yes, I have not read all of the books, certainly not the second novel which The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was based on. I guess I should say that the books are now highly recommended to everyone who loves a bit of magic and fantasy in their life after all the LOTR and the Harry Potters. ^_^

Now I can go to bed happy... knowing that I had just gushed out my joy and happiness at having seen a great movie and not be disappointed at all! Good night!

Pictures are courtesy of Narnia Web Galleries