The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
“To the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great western woods, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle. And to the clear northern skies, King Peter the Magnificent.”
A magical family fable from Andrew Adamson, co-director of the Shrek movies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first live action, big screen adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s timeless children’s fantasy, a perennial favourite that has sold more than a hundred million copies since it was first published in 1950. Years in the making with cutting edge special effects bringing a menagerie of imaginative creatures to life, Narnia is epic entertainment with an appealing cast, an inventive screenplay and visuals the likes of which you have never seen.
“We had gigantic challenges along the way,” reflects producer Mark Johnson. “The battle alone was made up of thousands and thousands of creatures, which includes polar bears, lions, tigers, centaurs, ogres, boggles and more. Just an incredible undertaking.”
Four young adventurers playing hide-and-seek in an old country home stumble upon an enchanted wardrobe that leads them from Second World War-torn London into a spectacular parallel universe known as Narnia - a fairytale realm where woodland animals talk and mythological creatures roam the hills. But Narnia has fallen under the icy spell of a mad sorceress, cursed to suffer through a winter that never ends by the wicked White Witch (
Tilda Swinton). Now, aided by Narnia’s rightful leader, the wise and mystical lion Aslan (voiced by
Liam Neeson), the children find themselves leading Narnia into a spectacular battle to finally end the Witch’s glacial enslavement.
“Unlike Tolkien, who was very specific, Lewis left a lot to your imagination,” says Adamson. “So we had the enormous challenge of not only creating Narnia, but of trying to fulfill people’s expectations, to bring the film up to the level of their own dreams and fantasies.”
The ideas, however, were all sparked by the writing itself. “All the themes and messages that were important to C.S. Lewis are present in the movie, and it is, I hope, a faithful envisioning of what Lewis was imagining when he wrote the book,” explains Adamson. “It’s both an epic story of a battle between good and evil, and an intimate family drama about a fractured family that has to mend itself.
“Basically,” continues the director, “we approached it as a story that is very much about betrayal, forgiveness and loyalty. It’s about a family who feels disempowered by the terror of World War II but finds their power again in Narnia. It’s a story about four kids who enter this land where they’re not only empowered, but where they’re ultimately the only solution to the war in that land. And it’s only through unity as a family that they can actually triumph.”
“The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has taken millions of young minds into realms of fantasy - so the enormous challenge as a filmmaker was to try to recreate those worlds in a way that might live up to and even exceed people’s imaginations, that could truly transport you to another time and place. You couldn’t have made this film five years ago. You couldn’t have made a photo-realistic lion like Aslan five years ago, or joined animal legs onto a human body realistically as we did with centaurs and minotaurs five years ago. Now is the right time to be making this story.”
“I think audiences will take away the most positive messages of belief, strength and family,” sums up the producer. “But, in the process, they will also go on an original, exciting, unexpected ride. People ask, is it like
Lord of the Rings or
Harry Potter? The answer is no, it is its own world, and yet I think the sensation of seeing those movies will be akin to the sensation one will feel in seeing this movie.”