The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Adamson shot the film in story order so the children would visibly grow across it. That has a cost as well as a payoff: the earliest scenes catch the young cast at their most tentative, while the siblings of the final act are noticeably older and more assured. A second detail works as a viewing instruction. Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes were kept away from the Narnia set until they filmed their characters’ arrival, and Henley had not seen James McAvoy in the Tumnus makeup. Lucy’s look at the lamp post really is a first look. The production history holds a surprise too. Brian Cox was announced as the voice of Aslan before Adamson reconsidered, and the part went to Liam Neeson months later. The religious reading is not buried, because the studio did not bury it: Disney hired Motive Marketing, the firm behind the campaign for The Passion of the Christ, and arranged screenings for church groups. For: viewers happy to spend a hundred and forty three minutes at a slow storybook pace, and anyone who enjoys creature makeup and animatronics, the category the film won its Academy Award in. Not for: anyone expecting a battle on the scale of The Lord of the Rings, since the fighting is kept short and bloodless for a family certificate.