The Narnia films

TLTWATW

TLTWATW


The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – A nice little story, with World War II intruding on the beginning. Great casting, with wonderful performances from the four kids, especially the tormented Edmund. Tilda Swinton is great as the Evil Queen, and Liam Neeson sounds nice as Aslan. Great dialogue:

The top geezer – the King of Narnia!

We’re not heroes – we’re from Finchley.

You’re worse than Beaver on bath day.
Worst day of the year.

Great talking animals, great film.

PC

PC


Prince Caspian – Political intrigues in Narnia, the magical creatures have been put down by some sort of Spanish Armada, which is no fun for the forest creatures. Young Prince Caspian, tagged for assassination by his evil uncle, allies himself with the Narnians and our young kings and queens, who eventually launch a full battle against the Spaniards, mowing everyone down. Ouch! Jadis, the Snow Queen, makes an attempt to return to our world, but is foiled. Too bad – she was interesting.

The deep magic comes and talks and walks, and the four kids get transported from Finchley to Narnia once again, this time to save a rotten humanity from the ultimate battle between the Narnians and the humans. Not that much fun, although for a brief moment we dread, fear, or hope that the Ice Queen will be revived. No such luck. Okay, cool. More bloody battles, with Susan the Magnificent teenager mowing down human soldiers with her magnificent bow and arrow. Of great interest is the sarcastic dwarf, and the chivalrous mouse. Nice stuff.

VOTDT

VOTDT


Voyage of the Dawn Treader – The third film in the series, but not the third book in the series in its internal chronology. This one is probably the best of the three, as when the kids show up they don’t act like bumbling fools (like in the first film) or trained killers (like in the second film). Here they find a mystery – what is amiss in Narnia, which finally knows peace? They discover it, and fall under the leadership of King Caspian. They hop on the Dawn Treader, battle sea serpents, and defeat a hideous green fog that acts like some sort of mysterious Loc-Nar, oozing evil and destroying happiness.

Interesting adventures with the invisible foot creatures, and strange challenges pose themselves to the three kids, leading to Harry Potter-like dream fantasies. Reepicheep, the swashbuckling mouse, is good fun, and at the end he bids adieu to our gang by joining Aslan in “his land.”

Oh, yeah – this time they brought along their annoying twit of a cousin who gets turned into a dragon (?!?!), then proceeds to become less annoying, and maybe a bit of a hero. The kid who plays him must be a good actor, because in the beginning he’s truly very annoying, but by the end of the film we really like the kid.

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