The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

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C.S. Lewis' timeless adventure follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter -- in World War II England who enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of hide-and-seek in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis... (Walt Disney Pictures / Walden Media)

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Cast and Information

Directed By: Andrew Adamson

Written By: Andrew Adamson, Ann Peacock, C.S. Lewis

Starring: Liam Neeson, Jim Broadbent, Tilda Swinton, James Cosmo, Ray Winstone, James McAvoy, Dawn French, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Kiran Shah

Genres: Drama, Family/Kids, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Franchise: The Chronicles of Narnia

Country: UK, USA

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1. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 21 stars)

2. #1 at the US Box Office (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 10 stars)

3. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)

4. U.S. Box office over 150 million (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 5 stars)

5. Available on YouTube (collaborative: moderated by utube-cinema - 5 stars)

6. Disney+ (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 5 stars)

7. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)

8. Christianity (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 4 stars)

9. Over 10000 ratings on Criticker (collaborative: moderated by peyrin - 4 stars)

10. All-Time Worldwide Box Office over $200,000,000 (collaborative: moderated by QuickyAPI - 3 stars)

11. Worldwide box office over $500,000,000 (collaborative: moderated by djross - 3 stars)

12. Young Adult novel adaptation (collaborative: moderated by nauru - 3 stars)

13. Top 1000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 3 stars)

14. Titles longer than eight words (collaborative - 2 stars)

15. Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Film Adaptations (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 2 stars)

16. All TIME 100 Novels - The film adaptations (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 2 stars)

17. Disney's Theatrical Live-Action (collaborative: moderated by Vesey - 2 stars)

18. Cinema Sins (collaborative: moderated by Phantom Nook - 2 stars)

19. Top 2000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 2 stars)

20. Budgets of more than $150,000,000 (collaborative - 1 star)

21. Female villain (collaborative - 1 star)

22. Hollywood Hits, 1920 to present (collaborative: moderated by lisa- - 1 star)

23. Annual top 5 worldwide box office, 1975 - 2022 (public: djross - 1 star)

24. The Chronicles of Narnia (collaborative)

25. Harry Gregson-Williams (composer) (collaborative: moderated by nauru)

26. IMDB - 2013-10-05 (collaborative: moderated by oldestman)

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
8	BeeDub	95 _91st
Comparing Narnia to that other big fantasy franchise is easy, but unfair. This story is first and foremost a religious parable dressed in fantasy robes, and on that level, this adaptation is a rousing success. It actually manages to improve on the book with imaginative battle scenes and greater depth for each character. Highly enjoyable.
7	Paxton	45 _14th
Three things: 1. If I ever enter a fantasy world and the first thing I meet is a faun, done. I'm out. 2. A college professor said that no one could make a movie out of Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, except they did and I liked it. This should've been better. 3. Aslan is only the third best Christ figure after Neo from the Matrix and Sean Penn from his own mind.
3	jimmynmu	20 _9th
Shameless addition to the latest fantasy craze. The worst of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings into one.
3	aus_hab_fan	83 _88th
I really liked it. Sure, it's a kids movie, and sure, it has religious undertones, but you know both of those when you go to see it. I'm a kid at heart, and newly-religious, and thus enjoyed it for what it was.
3	Q31	92 _61st
Beautifully photographed, nicely acted. Great special effects, too, and I think it did a nice job of getting the theme and feel of the book to the screen, for the most part.
3	Elfflame	92 _96th
Not only does this stand out among the usual fantasy fare, but the detail is gorgeous, and Tilda Swenton (the White Queen) is amazing. Even the battle scenes were excellently choreographed.
3	GreatScott85	87 _62nd
A faithful and entertaining big-budget rendition of the classic C.S. Lewis book, one that successfully translates the wonder and magic of the book's iconic moments and avoids succumbing to the Disney logo's worst tendencies.
3	PluggedIN	100 _98th
So this is not a tame movie. But in the words of Lucy, it is "good." Shrek director Andrew Adamson has deftly captured the thrill and splendor of Lewis' stories and preserved the essential allegory at the heart of Narnia. Lewis once referred to his Chronicles as a "trifle." I wonder, though, if he would still be saying that after seeing it brought to life like this and after pondering how much spiritual good his words have the potential of doing in the hearts of generations he never knew.
2	Locke	58 _22nd
Beautifully shot but with some rather indifferent special effects. The fundamental flaw with this adaptation is the pacing of the film, one feels it is weakly structured. Perfect for relatively young children but rather a disappointing affair for adults.
2	ZenythFox	100 _90th
Very good adaption of the book.
2	eveelun	72 _48th
The second half was marred by generic and uninteresting epic battle scenes, but I genuinely enjoyed the discovery and wonder in the first half. Tilda Swinton is pretty chilling (no pun intended).
2	whomperize	64 _54th
It's a wonderful kids' movie, but because I'm not ten years old, I didn't get much out of it. Some good scenes, but it was trying to be an "epic" movie when the story is not complicated enough to hold a two-and-a-half hour length. It should have either been longer or shorter.
2	doctor7	38 _23rd
As someone who never read the book this movie wasn't all that entertaining. The character progression felt very forced without any clear reasoning. The girls fell into the stereotype of crying all the time and Peter never really provided me with a feeling that he was a hero. The movie attempts to be far more epic than it really is and it shows.
2	Parmandur	90 _94th
One of the great fantasy films, towers over most in the genre. A wonderful heartfelt tale.
2	GravyMaximus	45 _26th
It's the Bible and the Bible is gay.
2	Tripwyre	36 _17th
Two years after Return of the King closed the LOTR series, Narnia appeared to fill the void of "annual Christmas fantasy movie based on classic books" that I'm sure we all felt the pain of through Winter '04. There's just one problem -- this one sucks. It tries so hard to be LOTR, and it's just weak in every aspect. The effects aren't great, the story is boring, the kids are annoying shits. The battles are alright, but this movie is blah. Like getting a knock-off for Christmas. It hurts.
2	TonythePony	52 _16th
Never read the book, but this adaptation comes off as a ludicrous hodgepodge of myths and fairy tales, its epic pretensions dousing any potential charm. Why are these kids so important? I'm sure it was explained, but these child actors were so distractingly obnoxious it seems to have slipped past me. A forehead slappingly painful 140 minutes.
2	Ray	65 _55th
Liam Neeson voices a lion? Sold.
2	keysercomp13	95 _50th
This first movie in The Chronicles of Narnia movies based off of the book series portrays the book very well. I have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe three times in my eighteen years, and it is one of my favorite books. The director of this movie realy stayed true to the plot line and did not try to "hollywoodize" it by adding extras. This movie is high in moral integrity and I would recommend it to anyone.
2	Matthew Parkinson (CineMarter)	70 _77th
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a good fantasy adventure film, especially considering it's aimed primarily at children. That it can be this good with its relatively safe screenplay and family friendly appeal is a testament to the source material and the filmmakers. It's exciting, action-packed, and has some interesting elements to it. It might not be a grand slam from start to finish, but for a 145-minute kids' film, it does its job very well.
2	NothingsGood	75 _83rd
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe does for children's fantasy what Fellowship of the Ring did for the Lord of the Rings. Though far less ambitious, Narnia carries some captivating set pieces including a fantastic final battle in the film's tremendous third act.
1	vincente	70 _47th
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1	spoonerspot	91 _98th
One of the best book to movie transfers that i have ever seen. Great movie
1	Ndkchk	45 _17th
Bits of good, bits of bad.
1	idiot27000	63 _38th
Rushed and thematically underwhelming.
1	kamran	56 _31st
Well, kids obviously love the hell out of this film, if the audience I saw it with is any indication (oh, and the box office numbers as well). It seems like this toned-down, very easy-to-swallow film has been made exclusively for them. Four of my cousins go the same elementary school, and they asked me to come along as a volunteer on their field trip to see this movie. It's not a bad effort by any means, but it's seriously lacking daring and vision.
1	johnwun	60 _25th
Good, but not earthshattering...
1	bojanpopic	5 _1st
Predictable, poor performance, CGI visible... I just can't suppres my dissapointment with this movie... totaly waste of time!
1	Ayavaron	20 _10th
There was nothing I could attach myself to emotionally. I was basically thinking, "So what?" the whole time. Also, the film had a horrible color palette which made the otherwise spectacular CGI look much less impressive.
1	angrypierre	70 _47th
I was a big fan of the BBC TV series, so I'm more open to letting the imagination fill the gaps in the occasionally dodgy CGI and costumes and the like. There are two central things to get right about TLTWTW, and they're casting Lucy and the Ice Queen right, which I think they did pretty well. Aside from that, it's not exactly spectacular, and obviously suffers comparison with LOTR, but it's not terrible. At the very least it might have inspired one or two kids to pick up the books
1	TedDedon	60 _27th
Narnia isn't a bad movie, it's just so typical of a family fantasy movie that it's hard to really enjoy to the full level I think it could have been. It's often cheesy and never epic though it tries to be the entire way through.
1	maddog	95 _98th
While I did feel the Christian overtones a bit (perhaps because they were painstakingly pointed out beforehand), I nonetheless learned to take Narnia as a fantasy story and enjoyed it very much. The CGI is... there are no adjectives that would sufficiently describe how beautiful it is. I loved this movie.
1	tathiel	93 _98th
A great realization of C.S. Lewis' fabulous first book!
1	SecretStar	98 _85th
I love this movie! The story and the world it revolves around is fascinating and every scene left me thirsty for more. This may be one of those movies where it's best NOT to read the book before watching, because I have heard that some CS Lewis readers left the theater dissapointed, but I never read the book and I love this movie!
1	Melvin Smif	25 _28th
Whiny child actors conversing with glaringly obvious CGI fantasy creatures, with a piecemeal, fastforwarded version of the book's plot makes this movie a horrid piece of work. An obvious attempt to capitalize on the growing trend of fantasy books brought to the screen only without the effort made by the earlier ones.
1	Jdiddy381	65 _59th
Fantasy movies really aren't my thing, but this film was pretty solid. Plus, the lion was voiced by Liam Neeson, who is pretty much the man.
1	Okkervil	57 _46th
It just lacks too much of the plot and inspiration from the books to be of the highest quality. That said, despite some dodgy performances from the kids involved, they are not as unwatchable as many child actors. There is plenty to admire, including some nice support performances and some lovely visuals. It may not be brilliant, but gets marks for effort.
1	Totoro.	80 _74th
Well made.
1	hellboy76	66 _51st
Fairly loyal to the source material, some really good CGI, but it is souless. Still its a worthwhile story and should be seen at least once.
1	matGuy3	7 _66th
A wonderfully faithful adaptation from the classic children's book. It's absolutely beautiful as well.
1	talonmalon	65 _33rd
This is a decent child fantasy movie. Narnia is a very interesting world. The look of the movie, as well as the story, is quite good.
1	rttntomatoes	76 _50th
With first-rate special effects and compelling storytelling, this adaptation stays faithful to its source material and will please moviegoers of all ages.
1	Rudolph101	73 _29th
Based off the iconic doctor who Christmas special, Santa gives weapons to children and then Aslan dies before actually doing anything.
1	gyrro7	82 _49th
Tilda Swinton as the ice queen is worth the watch