W-OLF
04-06-2006, 04:24 PM
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe -- Two-Disc Collector's Edition'
The feature falters, but the DVD extras will satisfy most Narnia fans
By Daniel Fienberg
April 3 2006
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was supposed to have one good weekend when it was released last winter. It was expected to open well and then get swamped by the anticipated "King Kong" juggernaut. Instead, "Wardrobe" proved to be the box office titan, taking in nearly $300 million domestically, grabbing an Oscar and laying the groundwork for a franchise of movies based on C.S. Lewis' beloved books.
It isn't charitable to notice such things, but the DVD release exposes "Wardrobe" as a disappointingly flat and mediocre film. Displaced from the grandeur added by the big screen, the visuals seem less inspiring and the storytelling even clunkier. It's a trade-off that many will happily make, though, because for all of the failings of the film itself, the DVD's supplementary content is strong, with enough featurettes and commentaries to provide hours of family-friendly babysitting.
The screenplay, credited to director Andrew Adamson plus three other scribes, is somehow crippled by the fact that Lewis' book is mostly about establishing the world and spirituality of Narnia and that most of the major events -- particularly the climactic battle -- aren't really found on the page at all. The film gets off to a strong start, moving the four Pevensie children (Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell) out of London at the height of World War II and off to a countyside estate where they find the titular transporting wardrobe. Once in Narnia, the film devolves into one moment of drama-stalling wonderment after another, as the kids have to stare agog at fauns, satyrs and all manner of other mythological creatures. Sure, there's a war building between Jesus-lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) and the evil White Witch (Tilda Swinton, infusing the character with the spirit of an Amazon warrior), but that all takes a backseat to expressions of awe distributed over nearly 140 minutes.
Watching "Wardrobe" on DVD, it's easy to see which computer generated critters drew the most money and which were afterthoughts. That's why Aslan looks frightfully real and fully realized, but several supporting characters -- the beavers, the fox, the wolves -- come across as cartoonish. While the real New Zealand locations remain stunning, anything shot on a soundstage with a digitally added background looks jarringly fake.
For much of the film's lazy second half -- as not-so-subtle theology becomes more important than thrills -- it's the well-cast children who keep "Wardrobe" worth watching, particularly Henley and Keynes as the younger Pevensies. The kids are central to the DVD's bonuses as well. Their giggly commentary with Adamson is far less annoying than you'd imagine and the 26-minute "The Children's Magical Journey" featurette on the second disc focuses on how much fun all of this fighting, shooting and riding must have been for them. It also raises the question: Why is it that preternaturally mature British kids seem so amiable and endearing, but Dakota Fanning is just so freaky?
The bonuses on the first disc are limited to the kids' commentary and a second track with Adamson and two other filmmakers. Much of the information in the filmmakers' track is covered in the onslaught of documentaries on the second disc. Obviously modeled after the all-encompassing "Lord of the Rings" DVDs, all technical aspects of "Wardrobe" are covered, albeit in meandering fashion. The 38-minute "Chronicles of a Director" doc starts off as a glorification of "Shrek" vet Adamson, but really becomes a standard making-of package. Far better is the four-part "Evolution of an Epic," which only dedicates a few minutes to Lewis (who really deserves more notice), but delves into many aspects of costuming and production design in some depth.
"Creating Creatures," a 53-minute span of the combination of makeup, computer effects, real animals and animatronics used on the film, is sure to be a favorite. After all, who doesn't get a kick out of watching soon-to-be-satyrs wandering around set in green tights.
STUDIO: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: April 4
RATING: PG
PRICE: $34.99 (single disc version for $29.99
TIME: 138 min.
DVD EXTRAS: "Creating Narnia" features; "Creatures, Lands & Legends" interactive featurettes; filmmakers' commentary; kids' commentary; Narnia fun facts bonus track; bloopers
credit Zap2it
The feature falters, but the DVD extras will satisfy most Narnia fans
By Daniel Fienberg
April 3 2006
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was supposed to have one good weekend when it was released last winter. It was expected to open well and then get swamped by the anticipated "King Kong" juggernaut. Instead, "Wardrobe" proved to be the box office titan, taking in nearly $300 million domestically, grabbing an Oscar and laying the groundwork for a franchise of movies based on C.S. Lewis' beloved books.
It isn't charitable to notice such things, but the DVD release exposes "Wardrobe" as a disappointingly flat and mediocre film. Displaced from the grandeur added by the big screen, the visuals seem less inspiring and the storytelling even clunkier. It's a trade-off that many will happily make, though, because for all of the failings of the film itself, the DVD's supplementary content is strong, with enough featurettes and commentaries to provide hours of family-friendly babysitting.
The screenplay, credited to director Andrew Adamson plus three other scribes, is somehow crippled by the fact that Lewis' book is mostly about establishing the world and spirituality of Narnia and that most of the major events -- particularly the climactic battle -- aren't really found on the page at all. The film gets off to a strong start, moving the four Pevensie children (Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell) out of London at the height of World War II and off to a countyside estate where they find the titular transporting wardrobe. Once in Narnia, the film devolves into one moment of drama-stalling wonderment after another, as the kids have to stare agog at fauns, satyrs and all manner of other mythological creatures. Sure, there's a war building between Jesus-lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) and the evil White Witch (Tilda Swinton, infusing the character with the spirit of an Amazon warrior), but that all takes a backseat to expressions of awe distributed over nearly 140 minutes.
Watching "Wardrobe" on DVD, it's easy to see which computer generated critters drew the most money and which were afterthoughts. That's why Aslan looks frightfully real and fully realized, but several supporting characters -- the beavers, the fox, the wolves -- come across as cartoonish. While the real New Zealand locations remain stunning, anything shot on a soundstage with a digitally added background looks jarringly fake.
For much of the film's lazy second half -- as not-so-subtle theology becomes more important than thrills -- it's the well-cast children who keep "Wardrobe" worth watching, particularly Henley and Keynes as the younger Pevensies. The kids are central to the DVD's bonuses as well. Their giggly commentary with Adamson is far less annoying than you'd imagine and the 26-minute "The Children's Magical Journey" featurette on the second disc focuses on how much fun all of this fighting, shooting and riding must have been for them. It also raises the question: Why is it that preternaturally mature British kids seem so amiable and endearing, but Dakota Fanning is just so freaky?
The bonuses on the first disc are limited to the kids' commentary and a second track with Adamson and two other filmmakers. Much of the information in the filmmakers' track is covered in the onslaught of documentaries on the second disc. Obviously modeled after the all-encompassing "Lord of the Rings" DVDs, all technical aspects of "Wardrobe" are covered, albeit in meandering fashion. The 38-minute "Chronicles of a Director" doc starts off as a glorification of "Shrek" vet Adamson, but really becomes a standard making-of package. Far better is the four-part "Evolution of an Epic," which only dedicates a few minutes to Lewis (who really deserves more notice), but delves into many aspects of costuming and production design in some depth.
"Creating Creatures," a 53-minute span of the combination of makeup, computer effects, real animals and animatronics used on the film, is sure to be a favorite. After all, who doesn't get a kick out of watching soon-to-be-satyrs wandering around set in green tights.
STUDIO: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: April 4
RATING: PG
PRICE: $34.99 (single disc version for $29.99
TIME: 138 min.
DVD EXTRAS: "Creating Narnia" features; "Creatures, Lands & Legends" interactive featurettes; filmmakers' commentary; kids' commentary; Narnia fun facts bonus track; bloopers
credit Zap2it