The Chronicles of Narnia

Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe endeavors to be the next great fantasy epic serial, like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, it falls a little short of those high benchmarks.

The premise is based on a mysterious wardrobe that is a portal to the far away land of Narnia. Here there are lions that talk, and an evil ice princess among other fantasy characters. Our unlikely travelers through the wardrobe are four siblings that are in exile from London during the WW II Battle of Britain aerial bombing campaign.

A film like this lives or dies by its special effects and The Chronicles of Narnia delivers in this department. Everything looked realistic, and all of the various speaking creatures were beautifully rendered in a realistic fashion.

So what's the movie lacking? The whole plot seemed a little thin. A character comes back from death with no apparent explanation. An imprisoned child gets released for no reason. On top of this, Narnia just doesn't feel epic enough.

This first installment of The Chronicles of Narnia is a decent enough film, just don't compare it to The Lord of the Rings.

Overall Grade: B+