Telegraph.co.uk Reviews Film

Telegraph.co.uk has posted another positive review of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe after one of the early screenings. You can read the whole article here. Thanks to Chesterbelloc for the heads up.

The Lion, The Witch and the enthralling epic

There can be few films more eagerly awaited than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It has been 30 years since Hollywood first toyed with the idea of bringing CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia to the screen. But the wait has been absolutely worth it. This re-telling of the story manages to be enthralling and, at the same time, sweet and gentle. I saw the first screening in America and thoroughly enjoyed it.

There are convincingly natural talking animals, ghoulish creatures, vicious wolves and some intense scenes of battle and death, but no bloodshed. The picture’s lack of gore may disappoint some teenage boys but its classic story of good versus evil combined with rousing battle scenes and the charm of its four stars will ensure success.

The four Pevensie children are packed off from their home in Finchley to the countryside to stay with a mysterious professor (Jim Broadbent) and his fierce housekeeper. It doesn’t take long for Lucy (wonderfully played by 10-year-old Georgie Henley) to find her way into Narnia through the back of a wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek.

It’s more whimsical than Harry Potter, not as dark or hard-edged, but it achieves what it sets out to do.