Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

by Nathan

If I had just two words to describe Walt Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” they would be: powerful and breath-taking. This is 2005’s family film, just in time for Christmas.

Based on the series by C.S. Lewis, this movie chronicles (no pun intended) four children ( Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) as they move to an eccentric professor’s house in the London countryside to avoid the air raids from WWII, as they move into an enchanted wardrobe, leading them into a magical land, Narnia.  

In Narnia, the children learn of a fabled prophecy, detailing them as the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve, who will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia. Along the way, they meet Mr. Tumnus, a fawn, Aslan, the Great Lion, and the White Witch.

In the end, they do restore peace to Narnia. The books have been discovered as an allegory of the Bible and Christian tales. For example, Aslan’s sacrifice represents the crucifixion of Christ. My pastor’s Christmas sermon series is about that; the fantasy connection between Christmas and Narnia.

The movie has another connection: the fact that it was produced by Disney, which normally produces movies of this nature, although Disney has a rule about not showing bloody, gruesome deaths. “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” has some scenes that could have blood, but Disney took them out.

Overall, this is a classic, especially compared to the 1970’s BBC version, where you can see strings moving a stuffed Aslan, and it’s one of my top three (3) movies of 2005. ( “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” round up the top.)