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By
WAYNE KLEIN
C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles
of Narnia can be enjoyed on many levels whether
you look at it as a Christian or an atheist. An
enjoyable epic saga of good (Aslan the Lion) vs.
evil (the White Witch), Lewis' tale begins as
Peter, Lucy, Edmund and Susan are placed in the
countryside to avoid the destructive bombs of the
Nazi's during WWII. They find a gateway to the
magical world of Narnia in a wardrobe closet. The
children represent liberation fulfills a prophecy
where Aslan the Lion (Liam Neeson) will, with
their assistance, free the inhabitants of Narnia
from the frozen wasteland of the White Witch
(Tilda Swinton).
Having read the books when I was younger, I have
no problem with some of the changes made to the
story as they only enhance the film. Remember that
often what works on the printed page doesn't work
in a film and vice versa. While there's
considerable swordplay the film is appropriate for
most children. There's no swear words nor are
there any sex scenes. It's amazing to me that the
film got made without Hollywood somehow jazzing up
this presentation for the movies. The major
battles have much of the scale of Peter Jackson's
"Lord of the Rings" and this film makes an
excellent companion piece to Jackson's trilogy of
films about Middle Earth.
A simply beautiful looking DVD transfer, "Narnia"
has some slight edge enhancement but, overall, the
lush colors and crisp images look impressive. The
audio has remarkable depth and presence with nice
use of the surround format to create an
environment around the viewer. "Narnia" is great
in either the single disc edition (which is
available in widescreen and full screen) or the
double disc edition. Which edition you get depends
upon how many extras and behind-the-scenes
featurettes you want to watch.
If the movie is all you want the single disc
edition is plenty and has commentary tracks by the
director and the children that appear in the
movie. There are also outtakes from the movie
included as well as "Narnia Fun Facts." While it
might not have all the bells and whistles keep in
mind that there is talk of an extended edition of
the movie being released with a whole lot of
extras some time around Christmas. You may want to
wait for the deluxe version then vs. being double
dipped.
The 2-disc edition might appeal more to adult or
teenage collectors; it features a number of
marvelous featurettes on the production of the
movie including "Chronicle of a Director" which
details the production of the movie. "The
Children's Magical Journey," "Creating the
Creatures" (which is pretty self explanatory_ and
an excellent if brief featurette on author C. S.
Lewis called "C.S. Lewis: From One Man's Mind."
The "Anatomy of a Scene" is marvelous because it
breaks down how the sequence where the river is
melted was created covering everything that went
into this magical and symbolic sequence from the
film. There's also a section called "Creatures,
Lands & Legends" that provides a cool 3-D map of
Narnia, a timeline for the film and where it fits
in the overall scheme of things and "Creatures of
the World" featurette that focuses on all the
creatures in the mystical land of Narnia.
While it's considerably more expensive (depending
upon where you purchase it of course) than the
single disc set, fans will want to pick up this
edition. Reportedly director Andrew Adamson may be
working an extended edition of the film to be
release just in time for Christmas if the DVD does
well. Much like the "Kong" set scheduled for
Christmas (if there's enough of a demand for it),
the "Narnia" rumor has it will include an extended
cut of the film with deleted scenes in addition to
some new featurettes on the making of the film. |
