DVD Reviews
Blu-ray Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
By Jeff Swindoll
May 14, 2008, 13:38 GMT

In the wake of the success of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, the fantasy film market floodgates opened.  C.S. Lewis’ classic children’s tale had been proposed for the film treatment in the 90s and now it arrives in all its glory on Blu-ray as the next installment hits theaters. 

It’s the 1940s and London is under constant aerial bombardment from Hitler’s forces.  Children are being evacuated to the countryside to protect them from the rain of bombs that London finds itself under. 

The Pevensie children, Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley), find themselves shuffled off to the rural home of Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent).  The children are bored with the lack of things to do in the country and the Professor’s stiff housekeeper.  So they decide to play a game of hide and seek. 

Lucy finds a wardrobe in an unused room and decided to hide in it.  As she backs towards the rear of the massive piece of furniture she suddenly starts to feel fir trees instead of coats.  She turns to see that she’s in a snow-covered landscape with a solitary lamppost in the center of it. 

While wandering around in amazement she runs into the faun Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy).  He invites her back to his burrow for tea and cakes.  Lucy falls asleep.  Tumnus awakens her suddenly and confesses that he’s not a very good faun and was going to turn her over to the wicked White Witch (Tilda Swinton). 

The Witch has ruled over Narnia for the past 100 years and keeps it in the dead of winter (but never Christmas) to foster her frigid magic.  There’s a prophecy that says that “sons of Adam” and “daughters of Eve” will end her wintry reign.  So the Witch has ordered any humans turned over to her so that she can destroy them.  Tumnus takes Lucy back to the lamppost and heading through the trees she falls out of the wardrobe. 

The entrance to the mystical land is gone and her siblings don’t believer her.  However, the portal will open again and the Pevensie children will have to join forces with the lion Aslan (Liam Neeson) to battle the White Witch and set the balance of power in Narnia right again.  

In many people’s lists of the greatest fantasy books you’ll probably find the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings jostling for first place.  It may be humorous to both of their authors since they were well aware of each other and both may have inspired the others works.  In fact, Narnia may have been Lewis’ response to Tolkein’s Rings. 

Lewis’ works have been adapted for several mediums but a big screen film seemed to elude them.  That is until Lord of the Rings smashed across the box office and fantasy film became all the rage again.  The rights to the Narnia books were with Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham and in 2001 he awarded the rights to make the films to Walden Media.  Gresham also serves as a producer on the film. 

Aslan also had a chance to roar at the box office and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe has grossed nearly $800 million dollars. Prince Caspian is set to hit theaters very soon.   Walden Media did Lewis proud, as they’ve created a great film that gives Lord of the Rings a run for its money. 

I have to give the advantage to Rings since that ring has closed and it’s certainly an epic film that will live in film history.  That’s not saying that the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe don’t occupy the same space. 

Lion certainly has some great elements in the young cast they’ve cast well with the cute factor going to Georgie Henley.  The cast seems to get better as the film goes along.  Liam Neeson also adds majesty and command to his vocal performance as Aslan. 
Tilda Swinton adds an icy, maniacal menace to the White Witch as well.  Even Jim Broadbent in his cameo adds some whimsy as the “nutty” professor.  The modern special effects are also top notch.  All of those elements only gel together better in this gorgeous Blu-ray transfer.  

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is presented in 1080p anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. 

Disc One contains two commentaries.  The first is with director Andrew Adamson, producer Mark Johnson, and production designer Roger Ford Shane. 

The second is with Adamson, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and William Moseley.  The film also features a pop up trivia track that is introduced by Douglas Gresham.  Next are 4 minutes of bloopers, presented in standard definition.  Finally, there’s the high-def “Battle for Narnia” game. 

Disc Two is divided into two sections.  The first is the “Creating Narnia” section.  It starts off with a 37-minute video diary from director Adamson in standard definition.  Next is the 26-minute “Children’s Magical Journey” which goes into depth about the child actors of the film, in standard definition.  The 54-minute “Cinematic Storytellers” looks at the artists that brought Narnia to life, in standard definition.

 The 19-minute “Anatomy of a Scene” looks at two key sequences (The Melting River and Behind the Battle), in standard definition.  The first high definition item is the 3-minute “From One Man’s Mind” which details C.S. Lewis.  This section ends with the 53-minute “Creating Creatures” which details how they made each of the key creatures in the film, in standard definition. 

The “Creatures, Lands, and Legends” section’s features are all in high definition.  First is the 14-minute “Creatures of the World” which details the mythical beasties in the movie.  The 8-minute “Exploring Narnia” about some of the locations in the fantasy world.  

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an excellent adaptation of the book of the same name.  It’s quite wonderful and I think that C.S. would’ve been impressed with how this film translates to the screen. 

The Blu-ray only adds to that magic, but its too bad that all the special features couldn’t have been in high definition.  However, what we get is so impressive that you can forgive the disc for that fault.  

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.