plutokennedy

'The Chronicles of Narnia' tells a rather straightforward fairy tale about a hidden magical land, where a group of children from war-ridden London experience a series of adventures. The story is very simple and should be very easy to follow for even smaller children. Older kids and adults might be easily bored by the overlong movie, however. Director Adamson, who previously made the rather entertaining Shrek movie, does a reasonable job making engaging CGI creatures, but does not really get adequate performances out of the child actors. He directs without much flair and his style is visually underwhelming. The editing also leaves a lot to be desired, pacing often slow and some scenes are awkwardly put together. The whole film has a rushed and unpolished feel to it as if made on a tight schedule. The CGI is not the best, but certainly adequate for this type of movie. Finally, the much talked about Christian aspects of 'Narnia' do feel a little clumsy, but they should not distract/offend people who do not like overtly religious topics in movies. I rate this film 3/10, the kids liked it slightly better but were also quite glad when it finally was over.

I really enjoy 'South Park', but this movie is very disappointing. There are hardly any worthwhile jokes in the whole movie, not even the songs are entertaining. The makers of this movie decided for the cheap laughs by playing up clichés and prejudice and attacking outspoken (critically thinking) Hollywood celebrities. At the same time, the movie itself is very shallow and does not even attempt to provide any political insight, which I consider to be borderline hypocritical. The sets are nicely done, the puppets are fun at first but the novelty wears thin fast. All in all this film is a complete failure, both artistically and at the box office. I was glad when it was finally over.