The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

[Bloomfield]

Review by Rob Vaux


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fine film with much to be proud of. Its only shortcomings arise from sky-high expectations and the nebulous yardstick used to gauge them. With the hammerlock Peter Jackson put on the fantasy genre, every step is measured against near-perfection, and with legions of fans waiting with baited breath, the margin for error is nil.

This is such terrible writing. Quite apart from baited/bated. What sort of shortcomings can arise from sky-high expectations (shortcomings even higher than sky-high?) and what's a nebulous yardstick? A tape measure shrouded in mist? How do you gauge something with a yardstick (whether nebulous or clear-weather), anyway? I thought you measured with yardsticks, and gauged with gauges.

He even misspelled his name. Should be Rob Faux.

[emmline]

...and what's a nebulous yardstick?

We used to have one of those. We used it as a sword so often as kids that the last inch was worn into a roundish nub and you had to guess at the final measurement.

[Tyler]

[and what's a nebulous yardstick?

It's how they measure distances in the etherium.

Duh.

[emmline]

Quite apart from baited/bated.

And you know what baited breath is don't you? It usually involves chocolate, usually in a liqueur form.

[Tyler]

Quite apart from baited/bated.

And you know what baited breath is don't you? It usually involves chocolate, usually in a liqueur form.

Well, lots of movies are fun while under the influence....Fantasia, Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, yeah, the list goes on.

[jim stone]

There was a cat who ate limburger cheese and
waited outside the mousehole with baited breath.

[Walden]

There was a cat who ate limburger cheese and
waited outside the mousehole with baited breath.

babumpum

[Tyler]

There was a cat who ate limburger cheese and
waited outside the mousehole with baited breath.

babumpum

Ya know, we really ought to have a "rimshot smilee"....

[djm]

[quote="Bfld]and what's a nebulous yardstick?[/quote]"
The Hubble Space Teelscope.

djm

[rebl_rn]

Just got back from seeing this movie. FABULOUS. Now, the Narnia Chronicles are my all-time most favorite books ever. I was really nervous when I heard they were making a movie, because I knew they could really butcher it if they wanted to; they didn't. I am not a movie critic and I still haven't totally digested the movie, but here's my thoughts.

There's no potty humor. There are some lines that have been added obviously for laughs, but for the most part they are pretty funny, and nothing offensive about them.

Mr. Tumnus was totally different than I have imagined him (younger, for one thing), but I thought it was interestingly played. His role has not been diminished at all, and there was an interesting scene added between he and Edmund at the Witch's castle.

None of the acting was stand-out incredible, though Tilda Swanson is pretty awesome as the White Witch. Lucy was absolutely adorable, and whoever the actor who played Peter is, he is sure to become a new teen heartthrob in a couple years along with Orlando Bloom et al. He reminded me of Prince William in his looks, actually.

LOTR fans will recognize some of the locations (they were both filmed in New Zealand), and I swear the horse that played the unicorn Peter rode into battle was Shadowfax. Or looked a lot like him at least.

Well, this isn't very coherent, but there's my thoughts so far on the movie.

[OnTheMoor]

So... anyone else see it yet?

I'm going to go as soon as I pay off my Christmas credit card (bloody horrible time to release Narnia, Syriana and Kong ).

[jim stone]

Just saw it. I thought the first forty minutes or so were
sheer magic, then it seemed the director lost control
of the movie somewhat. Also The animated creatures,
beavers, wolves, etc needed to be very good
and they were merely adequate. They needed to
be as good as the dragon in the latest Harry P.
movie.

The director seemed to be best at small scale scenes,
between Lucy and the faun, for instance, which was marvelous
and filmed in real time. Larger stuff and action
were less good. The kids were less good too
after the first forty minutes; again I blame
the director. At it's best it was wondeful, at it's
worst it sagged.

I would call it a noble failure, containing magical
moments. I agree that Tilda Swinton was a knock out.

There was nothing in it that would rile an athiest.