Not Perfect, But Very Good

I just got back a couple of hours ago from seeing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I really enjoyed it, in fact it was the first movie I have seen in long time in which I was disappointed when it had to end. I wanted it to go on and on.

On the negative side, the Witch's physical appearance was not much at all like the book. In the book she is described as very beautiful, but lifeless in appearance. Tilda Swinton is attractive but she is not a great beauty and she is definitely not lifeless in appearance. Though she plays the part well, I think a woman with a cold beauty would have physically fit the part better.

The CGIs were generally pretty good and there was an impressed "Oooh" when a phoenix burst into flames during the battle, and again with the mermaids at the end of the movie. What I didn't like was the CGIs looked real but the statues they were turned into looked like wet paper mache.

The four siblings were handled beautifully. For kids they were all decent actors and the way they squabbled, you would have sworn they were real siblings.

They added a few action scenes which I think added to the movie and there were a couple of good lines in the movie that weren't in the book.

For example, Aslan to the White Witch "Don't deign to tell me of the Deep Magic Witch; I was there when it was written."

or another, I can't remember exactly how it went, but after she had killed Aslan, the White Witch said something to the effect that "See how little your love has accomplished."

At first, I was disappointed with the vocal quality of Liam Neeson being Aslan, prefering a more imperious voice, but as the movie moved along I realized it really was a good choice.

OH, and don't get up to leave when the credits start rolling; there is more after the credits are given.