Jackson destroyed Narnia

I just saw 'Narnia' at the cinema, and thought I would do the decent thing in providing you with my thoughts on it. First thing: I have NOT read the book - therefore, obviously I cannot judge how well the adaptation has been done, and so can only appreciate it as a film in its own right.

Anyway, to get some idea of it, I want you to use your imaginations. Think of 'Lord of the Rings', and then cheapen it significantly - cut about three quarters of the budget off. Next, imagine the plot being much shallower and unrealistic, and finally, add in a cheesy and over exaggerated moral message. I have just given you a rough idea of 'Narnia' is like.

Nevertheless, in amongst Mr. Tumnus’ horrifically rigid legs and other CGI travesties, there are some more positive facets of the film that should not go unnoticed. Some of these are: the acting of Georgie Henley (who plays Lucy), Tilda Swinton's air of cold malice as the Queen, and finally Jim Broadbent's brief appearance as Professor Kirke. Sadly, these factors can't redeem it for me and I was disappointed.

In conclusion, although not a total failure, 'Narnia' failed to enchant me. Perhaps it's just that now whenever I see orkish looking creatures banging pointy implements, I always think - LOTR! There area a lot of other obvious parallels, viz. the Queen's palace looking much like the Witch King's from 'Return of the King' and the wolves running from it in the style of the Black Riders. Perhaps if 'Narnia' had been released before Jackson's trilogy had it would seem more impressive, but as for humongous battle scenes involving hordes of beasts and evil villains living in towers, I just think: what a cliché! If anything, watching the film today has taught me this - Peter Jackson's work is so fantastic that we, as an audience, now have much higher expectations for films made in the fantasy genre. In future, the directors are going to have to up their game.

[Update] It seems I forgot to mention the biggest cliché of them all - the film has that denouement style of an ending (you know, where all the characters come together, wearing their best finery) with all the children sitting crowned on their thrones, with their many appreciative citizens sitting before them in a great hall. At this point, I actually wondered whether Andrew Adamson - the Director - would be sued by Peter Jackson et al, for thinking: hey, I don't know what to do with this 'King' now - let's copy Aragorn's coronation scene!