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

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)
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
Where to Stream

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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.
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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.
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jimmynmu | 20 9th |
Shameless addition to the latest fantasy craze. The worst of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings into one.
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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.
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3 | Q31 | 92 61st |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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3 | PluggedIN | 100 98th |
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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.
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2 | Locke | 58 22nd |
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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.
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2 | ZenythFox | 100 90th |
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Very good adaption of the book.
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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).
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2 | whomperize | 64 54th |
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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.
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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.
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Parmandur | 90 94th |
One of the great fantasy films, towers over most in the genre. A wonderful heartfelt tale.
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GravyMaximus | 45 26th |
It's the Bible and the Bible is gay.
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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.
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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.
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2 | Ray | 65 55th |
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Liam Neeson voices a lion? Sold.
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2 | keysercomp13 | 95 50th |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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vincente | 70 47th |
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1 | spoonerspot | 91 98th |
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One of the best book to movie transfers that i have ever seen. Great movie
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1 | Ndkchk | 45 17th |
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Bits of good, bits of bad.
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1 | idiot27000 | 63 38th |
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Rushed and thematically underwhelming.
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1 | kamran | 56 31st |
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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.
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1 | johnwun | 60 25th |
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Good, but not earthshattering...
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bojanpopic | 5 1st |
Predictable, poor performance, CGI visible... I just can't suppres my dissapointment with this movie... totaly waste of time!
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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tathiel | 93 98th |
A great realization of C.S. Lewis' fabulous first book!
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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!
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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.
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1 | Jdiddy381 | 65 59th |
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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.
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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.
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1 | Totoro. | 80 74th |
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Well made.
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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.
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matGuy3 | 7 66th |
A wonderfully faithful adaptation from the classic children's book. It's absolutely beautiful as well.
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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.
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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.
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Rudolph101 | 73 29th |
Based off the iconic doctor who Christmas special, Santa gives weapons to children and then Aslan dies before actually doing anything.
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gyrro7 | 82 49th |
Tilda Swinton as the ice queen is worth the watch
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Average Percentile 39.19% from 11349 Ratings | ![]() |